, 




^jLsrA* //. 



Mkmoirs 

OF 

Count Grammont 

BY 

COUNT ANTHONY HAMILTON 




TRANSLATED WITH NOTES BY HORACE WALPOLE 

WITH ! l ' 

ADDITIONAL NOTES AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 

BY SIR WALTER SCOTT AND MRS. ANNA JAMESON 

With Portraits of the " Windsor Beauties," and Other Illustrations 

PHILADELPHIA 

GEBBIE & CO., Publishers 






Copyrighted, 1888, by Gebbie & Co. 



By Transfer 
DEC 6 1913 



//i* 



PUBLISHERS' PREFACE. 



The editions of " Grammont's Memoirs" published 
since their first appearance in France in 1713 have not 
been numerous, not more than half a dozen new editions 
having been printed, although the work has always been 
ranked as a standard of the first class. 

The justly acquired popularity of this graphic picture 
of " The Times of Charles II." has kept steadily on the 
increase, which fact has now induced the publishers to 
submit for public patronage an edition embellished with 
all the distinguished excellencies of all editions hitherto 
published — notes, introductions and illustrations. In 
the matter of illustrations the work is peculiarly adapted 
for interesting embellishment, because of the great num- 
ber of historical personages named ; and therefore, 
selecting their best from Kneller, Lely, Scriven, Mrs. 
Jameson, and other sources, we have presented the reader 
with a Gallery of the " Grammont Memoirs " characters, 
such as has never before been published. We have added 
twenty-six modern illustrations by Delort, recently 
published in Paris, and, give in all about forty authen- 
tic portraits on steel and wood, together with the inter- 
esting illustrations of costume and character, by Delort, 

(v) 



vi publishers' preface. 

referred to above. The celebrated " Windsor Beauties " 
we have had photogravured expressly for this work. 
We think it might be pleasing, to the curious in matters 
of illustration, to give a quotation from Horace Wal- 
pole's Anecdotes of Painting: "The 'Beauties of Wind- 
sor ' are the Court of Paphos, and ought to be en- 
graved for the memoirs of its charming biographer, 
Count Hamilton." Strange! that more than a hundreds 
years should have been allowed to elapse before Wal- 
pole's sensible suggestion has been put into effect,.. 
as we have now done. 

Hamilton's Memoirs of Count de Grammont end so- 
abruptly that we have, in order to finish the story, laid 
Mrs. Jameson's "Beauties of the Court of Charles the 
Second" under contribution for three biographies, in 
the shape of an appendix, which, with the three portraits, 
Lawson, Bellasys and Portsmouth, bring the reigns of 
Charles II. and James II. to a close, and the story to a 

satisfactory conclusion. 

Gebbie & Co. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

I 



'BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF ANTHONY HAMILTON . • 

Epistle to the Count de Grammont . • • • • l6 
CHAPTER I. 

grammont and his servant are introduced 31 

CHAPTER II. 

Arrival of the Chevalier de Grammont at the siege of Trino, and 
his general life 

CHAPTER III. 

Experience and adventures of the Chevalier de Grammont before 
his arrival at the siege of Trino 

CHAPTER IV. 

His arrival at the Court of Turin and description of how he passed 
his time 

CHAPTER V. 

His return to the Court of France. His adventures at the siege 
of Arras. His response to Cardinal Mazarin and his exile from ^ 
the Court of France 

CHAPTER VI. 

His arrival at the Court of England. Character of the personages 
composing the Court . 

CHAPTER VII. 

He falls in love with Miss Hamilton, describes various adventures 
at a ball to the Queen, and the curious journey of his valet to ^ 

PariS " (vii) 



Vlll CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

The burlesque story of his Chaplain Poussatin. Description of 
the siege of Derida. Marriage of the Duke of York with Miss 
Hyde and other particulars of the Court of England . . 175: 

CHAPTER IX. 

Various intrigues and love affairs of the Court of England . . 212 

CHAPTER X. 

Other intrigues and love affairs of the Court of England . . 269. 

CHAPTER XL 

Return of the Chevalier de Grammont to the Court of France, his 
reminiscences of the English Court, and various intrigues and 
love affairs of some of the personages mentioned in his memoirs, 
and of the Court generally 323; 



APPENDIX. 

Mrs. Lawson — Mistress of Charles II 369- 

Susan Armine (Lady Bellasys) — Mistress of the Duke of York . 372- 

Louise de Queroualle (Duchess of Portsmouth) — Mistress of the 
Duke of York 380; 



LIST OF THE WINDSOR BEAUTIES SERIES. 

Painted by Sir Peter Lely and others, copied from Mrs. Anne Jame- 
son's "Beauties of the Court of Charles II." 



Charles II. (from the painting by Sir Godfrey Kneller.') Frontispiece. 
James II. (from the painting by Sir Godfrey Kneller) . . 369 



Barbara, Duchess of Cleveland, Lady Castlemaine 

Queen Katherine of Braganza, Queen of Charles II. 

Emelia, Countess of Ossory 

Miss Hamilton, Countess of Grammont 

Mrs. Middleton, Maid of Honor 

Anne, Countess of Southesk . 

Elizabeth, Lady Denham 

Elizabeth, Countess of Chesterfield 

Frances Stewart, Duchess of Richmond 

Elizabeth Bagot, Countess of Falmouth 

Miss Jennings, Maid of Honor 

Nell Gwyn, Mistress of Charles II. 

Mrs. Lawson, Mistress of Charles II. 

Susan Armine, Lady Bellasys, Mistress of Duke of York 

Louise de QueVoualle, Duchess of Portsmouth 



96 

113 
118 
141 
144 
192 
208 
224 
240 

253 
288 

352 
37o 
376 
384 



(ix) 



LIST OF FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Photogravured by the Gebbie & Husson Photogravure Co. from 
Designs by C Delort. 



Grammont's Departure from his Ancestral Home 

Arrival at the Siege of Trino 

Grammont Meets a " Countryman " First Day Out . 

At the Court of Turin 

The Queen Embraces Grammont before the Court of 

France 

Lady Shrewsbury and Jermyn at Spring Garden 

The Ball • . 

Miss Stewart's Display of Legs .... 

Miss Hobart and Miss Temple Cooling Off 

Miss Jennings, Miss Price, and Brounker — an Adventure 

The King finds Richmond in Miss Stewart's Bed-chamber 



lGE 


45 


(( 


36 


(( 


49 


c< 


60 



102 

138 

155 

202 
260 

295 

358 



to 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN TEXT 



Cavalier of the Period . . . ■ (C. 

Count Anthony Hamilton 

Confab at the Inn 

Count de Grammont 

St. Evremond 

Grammont and his Servant Arrive at the Inn — 

First Night from Home .... 

Louis XIV 

Grammont's Arrival at the Siege of Trino 

Marshal de Turenne 

Grammont Consults with his Maitre d' Hotel 

The Prince de Conde 

The Chevalier de Grammont at Arras 
Anne of Austria, Mother of Louis XIV. 
Grammont Meets the Duke d'Arscot, the Baron 

de Limbec, Louvigny and others before 

Arras 

Mrs. Hyde, Sister-in-law to the Duchess of York 
The Duel between Jermyn and Howard 

Jacob Hall 

On the Bank of the Thames .... 

The Queen Dowager Marie Henrietta, Widow 

of Charles I. ...... 

The Dance of Chaplain Poussatin before the 

Ladies of the French Court 
Lady Robarts ....... 

The Duke of York and Lady Chesterfield . 
Miss Temple, Maid of Honor .... 

Mary Kirk (Miss Warmestre), Maid of Honor . 



Delort) Title page. 


(E. Scriven) 


i 


(C. Delort) 


15 


(E. Scriven) 


16 


(E. Scriven) 


3° 


(C. Delort) 


31 


(E. Scriven) 


34 


(C Delort) 


35 


(E. Scriven) 


4i 


(C. Delort) 


42' 


(E. Scriven) 


58 


(C Delort) 


59 


(E. Scriven) 


85 


(C. Delort) 


86 


(E. Scriven) 


108 


(C Delort) 


109 


(E. Scriven) 


140 


(C. Delort) 


141 


(E. Scriven) 


174 


(C. Delort) 


175 


(E. Scriven) 


211 


(C Delort) 


212 


(E. Scriven) 


255 


(E. Scriven) 


268 


(xi) 





Xll 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN TEXT. 



Miss Jennings and Miss Price, Maids of Honor, 
disguised as orange-girls, encounter Kille- 
grew 

Miss Price, Maid of Honor . , 

Mrs. Hughes, Actress, Mistress of Prince Rupert 

The Countess of Shrewsbury .... 

Return of the Chevalier de Grammont to the 
Court of France 

The Duchess of Buckingham .... 

Mrs. Davis, Actress, Mistress of Charles II. 

Lucy Barlow (otherwise Waters), First Mistress 
of Charles II., Mother of the Duke of Mon- 
mouth . 

St. James Park, 1680 .... {from 

The Earl of Chesterfield 

Cleveland House, Residence of the Duchess of 
Cleveland, 1680 {from 

The Earl of Rochester 

St. James Palace, 1690 .... {from 

Ann Hyde, Duchess of York .... 



{C Delort) 


269 


{E. Scriven) 


293 


{E. Scriven) 


307 


{E. Scriven) 


322 


{C Delort) 


323 


(E. Scriven) 


339 


(E. Scriven) 


355 


{E. Scriven) 


367 


an old print) 


369 


(>£". Scriven) 


37i 


an old print) 


372 


{E. Scriven) 


379 


an old print) 


380 


{E. Scriven) 


402 



r 



LIBRARY 

DEC 4 1891 

UEPT OF THE INTERIOR. 




PORTRAIT OF COUNT ANTHONY HAMILTON. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 

OF 

ANTHONY HAMILTON. 



Of Anthony Hamilton, the celebrated author of the 
Grammont* Memoirs, much cannot now be with cer- 
tainty known. The accounts prefixed to the different 
editions of his works, down to the year 1805, are very 
imperfect ; in that year a new and, in general, far better 
edition than any of the preceding ones was published 
in Paris, to which a sketch of his life was also added ; 

* For uniformity's sake the writer of this sketch has followed the 
Memoirs in the spelling of this name ; but he thinks it necessary to 
observe that it should be Gramont, not Grammont. 

(D 



LIBRARY 

ft'B 4 I 



2 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF 

but it contains rather just criticisms on his works, than 
any very novel or satisfactory anecdote concerning him- 
self. It is not pretended here to gratify literary curiosity 
as fully as it ought to be, with regard to this singular 
and very ingenious man ; some effort, however, may be 
made to communicate a few more particulars relative to 
him, than the public has hitherto, perhaps, been ac- 
quainted with. 

Anthony Hamilton was of the noble family of that 
name : Sir George Hamilton, his father, was a younger 
son of James, Earl of Abercorn, a native of Scotland. 
His mother was daughter of Lord Thurles, and sister 
to James, the first Duke of Ormond ; his family and 
connections therefore, on the maternal side, were en- 
tirely Irish. He was, as well as his brothers and sisters, 
born in Ireland, it is generally said, about the year 1646 ' r 
but there is some reason to imagine that it was three 
or four years earlier. The place of his birth, according 
to the best family accounts, was Roscrea, in the county 
of Tipperary, the usual residence of his father when not 
engaged by military or public business. * It has been 
always said that the family migrated to France when 
Anthony was an infant ; but this is not the fact : " Sir 
George Hamilton," says Carte, "would have accom- 
panied his brother-in-law, the Marquis of Ormond, to 
France, in December, 1650 : but, as he was receiver- 
general in Ireland, he stayed to pass his accounts, 
which he did to the satisfaction of all parties, notwith- 



* In September, 1646, Owen O'Neale took Roscrea, and, as Carte 
says, "put man, woman, and child to the sword, except Sir George 
Hamilton" 's lady, sister to the Marquis of Ormond, and some few 
gentlewomen whom he kept prisoners." No family suffered more in 
those disastrous times than the house of Ormond. Lady Hamilton 
died in August, 1680, as appears from an interesting and affecting 
letter of her brother, the Duke of Ormond, dated Carrick, August 
25th. He had lost his noble son, Lord Ossory, not three weeks, 
before. 



ANTHONY HAMILTON. 3 

standing much clamor had been raised against him." 
When that business was settled, he, in the spring of 
1 65 1, took Lady Hamilton and all his family to France, 
and resided with Lord and Lady Ormond, near Caen, 
in Normandy,* in great poverty and distress, till the 
Marchioness of Ormond, a lady whose mind was as ex- 
alted as her birth, went over to England, and, after 
much solicitation, obtained two thousand pounds a year 
from her own and her husband's different estates in 
Ireland. This favor was granted her by Cromwell, 
who always professed the greatest respect for her. The 
Marchioness resided in Ireland, with the younger part 
of her family, from 1655 till after the Restoration ; while 
the Marquis of Ormond continued for a considerable 
part of that period with his two sisters, Lady Clancarty 
and Lady Hamilton, at the Feuillatines, in the Faubourg 
St. Jacques, in Paris. 

It appears from a letter of the Marquis to Sir Robert 
Southwell, that, although he himself was educated in 
the Protestant religion, not only his father and mother, 
but all his brothers and sisters, were bred, and always 
continued, Roman Catholics. Sir George Hamilton 
also, according to Carte, f was a Roman Catholic; An- 
thony, therefore, was bred in the religion of his family, 
and conscientiously adhered to it through life. He en- 
tered early into the army of Louis XIV., as did his 
brothers George, Richard, and John, the former of whom 
introduced the company of English gens d'armes into 
France in 1667, according to Le Pere Daniel, author of 
the History of the French Army, who adds the follow- 
ing short account of its establishment : Charles II. , being 



* Hence possibly Voltaire's mistake in stating that Hamilton was 
born at Caen, in his Catalogue des Ecrivains du Steele de Louis XIV. 

t That historian states that the king (Charles I.) deprived several 
papists of their military commissions, and, among others, Sir George 
Hamilton, who, notwithstanding, served him with loyalty and un- 
varying fidelity. 



4 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF 

restored to his throne, brought over to England several 
Catholic officers and soldiers who had served abroad with 
him and his brother, the Duke of York, and incorporated 
them with his guards ; but the parliament having ob- 
liged him to dismiss all officers who were Catholics, 
the king permitted George Hamilton to take such as 
were willing to accompany him to France, where Louis 
XIV. formed them into a company of gens d'armes, 
and being highly pleased with them, became himself 
their captain, and made George Hamilton their captain- 
lieutenant. * Whether Anthony belonged to this corps 
I know not ; but this is certain, that he distinguished 
himself particularly in his profession, and was advanced 
to considerable posts in the French service, f 

Anthony Hamilton's residence was now almost con- 
stantly in France. Some years previous to this he had 
been much in England, and, towards the close of 
Charles II. 's reign, in Ireland, where so many of his 
connections remained.! When James II. succeeded to 
the throne, the door being then opened to the Roman 
Catholics, he entered into the Irish army, where we find 
him, in 1686, a lieutenant-colonel in Sir Thomas New- 
comen's regiment. That he did not immediately hold 
a higher rank there, may perhaps be attributed to the 
recent accession of the king, his general absence from 
Ireland, the advanced age of his uncle, the Duke of 
Ormond, and, more than all, perhaps, to his Grace's early 
disapprobation of James's conduct in Ireland, which dis- 
played itself more fully afterwards, especially in the 
ecclesiastical promotions. 

* They were composed of English, Scotch, and Irish. 

t It is not to be forgotten that, at this time, John Churchill, after- 
wards Duke of Marlborough, served under Marshal Turenne, in the 
same army. 

t Hamilton had three sisters : the Countess of Grammont ; another 
married to Matthew Forde, Esq., of the county of Wexford; and 
another to Sir Donogh O'Brien, ancestor to the present Sir Edward 
O'Brien— a branch of the Thomond family. 



ANTHONY HAMILTON. 5 

Henry, EarJ of Clarendon, son to the lord-chancellor, 
was at that time lord-lieutenant of Ireland, and appears, 
notwithstanding his general distrust and dislike of the 
Catholics, to have held Anthony Hamilton in much esti- 
mation : he speaks of his knowledge of, and constant 
attention to, the duties of his profession ; his probity, 
and the dependence that was to be placed on him, in 
preference to others of the same religious persuasion, 
and, in October, 1686, wrote to the Earl of Sunderland 
respecting him as follows : " I have only this one thing 
more to trouble your lordship with at present, concerning 
Colonel Anthony Hamilton, to get him a commission to 
command as colonel, though he is but lieutenant-colonel 
to Sir Thomas Newcomen, in regard of the commands 
he has had abroad : and I am told it is often done in 
France, which makes me hope it will not be counted 
an unreasonable request. I would likewise humbly rec- 
commend to make Colonel Anthony Hamilton a privy- 
councillor here." * Lord Clarendon's recommendations 
were ultimately successful : Hamilton was made a privy- 
councillor in Ireland, and had a pension of ^200 a 
year on the Irish establishment ; and was appointed 
governor of Limerick, in the room of Sir William King, 
notwithstanding he had strongly opposed the new-mod- 
elling of the army by the furious Tyrconnel. In the 
brief accounts which have been given of his life it is said 
that he had a regiment of infantry ; but though this is 
very probable, there is no mention whatever of his com- 
manding a regiment in the lists published of King James's 
army, which are supposed to be very accurate : he is in- 
deed set down among the general officers. Lord Clar- 
endon, in one of his letters to the lord-treasurer, states : 
"That the news of the day was that Colonel Russell 
was to be lieutenant-colonel to the Duke of Ormond's 
regiment, and that Colonel Anthony Hamilton was to 

* Chapel-Izod, July 11, 16S6. 



6 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF 

have Russell's regiment, and that Mr. IyUttrell was to be 
lieutenant-colonel to Sir Thomas Newcomen, in the 
place of Anthony Hamilton. * 

It is not known whether Anthony was present at the 
battle of the Boyne, or of Aughrim : his brother John 
was killed at the latter ; and Richard, who was a lieu- 
tenant-general, led on the cavalry with uncommon gal- 
lantry and spirit at the Boyne : it is to be wished that 
his candor and integrity had equalled his courage ; but 
he acted with great duplicity ; and King William's 
contemptuous echoing back his word to him, when he 
declared something on his honor, is well known, f He 
is frequently mentioned by Lord Clarendon, but by no 
means with the same approbation as his brother. After 
the total overthrow of James's affairs in Ireland, the two 
brothers finally quitted these kingdoms, and retired to 
France. Richard lived much with the Cardinal de 
Bouillon, who was the great protector of the Irish in 
France, and kept (what must have been indeed highly 
consolatory to many an emigrant of condition) a magnif- 
icent table, which has been recorded in the most glowing 
and grateful terms, by that gay companion, and cele- 
brated lover of good cheer, Philippe de Coulanges, who 
occasionally mentions the "amiable Richard Hamil- 
ton"! as one of the Cardinal's particular intimates. 
Anthony, who was regarded particularly as a man of 
letters and elegant talents, resided almost entirely at St. 
Germain : solitary walks in the forest of that place 
occupied his leisure hours in the morning ; and poetical 
pursuits, or agreeable society, engaged the evening: but 
much of his time seems to have rolled heavily along ; his 
sister, Madame de Grammont, living more at court, or in 
Paris, than always suited his inclinations or his conve- 
nience. His great resource at St. Germain was the 

* Dublin Castle, October 23, 1686. 

f This anecdote has been erroneously recorded of Anthony. 

X So Coulanges calls him. 



ANTHONY HAMILTON. ' 

family of the Duke of Berwick (son of James II.) : that 
nobleman appears to have been amiable in private life, 
and his attachment to Hamilton was steady and sincere. 
The Duchess of Berwick was also his friend. It is nec- 
essary to mention this lady particularly, as well as her 
sisters : they were the daughters of Henry Bulkeley, son 
to the first viscount of that name : their father had been 
master of the household to Charles : their mother was 
Lady Sophia Stewart, sister to the beautiful Duchess of 
Richmond, so conspicuous in the Grammont Memoirs. 
The sisters of the Duchess of Berwick were Charlotte, 
married to Lord Clare,* Henrietta and Laura. They all 
■occupy a considerable space in Hamilton's correspond- 
ence, and the last two are the ladies so often addressed 
as the Mademoiselles B. ; they are almost the constant 
subjects of Hamilton's verses ; and it is recorded that he 
was a particular admirer of Henrietta Bulkeley ; but 
their union would have been that of hunger and thirst, 
for both were very poor and very illustrious : their junc- 
tion would, of course, have militated against every rule 
of common prudence. To the influence of this lady, 
particularly, we are indebted for one or two of Hamilton's 
agreeable novels : she had taste enough to laugh at the 
extravagant stories then so much in fashion, "plus 
arabes qu'en Arabie," t as Hamilton says ; and he, in 
compliance with her taste, and his own, soon put the 
fashionable tales to flight, by the publication of the 
Quatre Facardins, and, more especially, La Fleur 
d^Epine. Some of the introductory verses to these pro- 
ductions are written with peculiar ease and grace ; and 
are highly extolled, and even imitated, by Voltaire. La 
Harpe praises the Fleur d' Epine, as the work of an ong- 

* (O'Brien) ancestor to Marshal Thomond. Lord Clare was killed at 
the battle of Ramillies. 

t They were wretched imitations of some of the Persian and Arabian 
tales, in which everything was distorted, and rendered absurd and pre- 
posterous. 



8 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF 

inal genius : I do not think, however, that they are 
much relished in England, probably because very ill 
translated. Another of his literary productions was the 
novel called Le Belter, which he wrote on the following 
occasion : Louis XIV. had presented to the Countess of 
Grammont (whom he highly esteemed) a remarkably ele- 
gant small country house in the park of Versailles : this 
house became so fashionable a resort, and brought such 
constant visitors,* that the Count de Grammont said, in 
his usual way, he would present the king with a list of 
all the persons he was obliged to entertain there, as more 
suited to his Majesty's purse than his own : the Countess 
wished to change the name of the place from the vulgar 
appellation of Le Moulineau into that of Pentalie: and 
Hamilton, in his novel, wrote a history of a giant, an 
enchantment, and a princess, to commemorate her reso- 
lution. It has however happened that the giant Mouli- 
neau has had the advantage in the course of time ; for 
the estate, which is situated near Meudon, upon the 
Seine, retains its original and popular designation. 

About the year 1704, Hamilton turned his attention to 
collecting the memoirs of his brother-in-law, the Count 
de Grammont, as we may conjecture, from an epistle be- 
ginning " Honneur des rives eloignees" f being written 
towards the close of the above year : it is dated, or sup- 
posed to be so, from the banks of the Garonne. Among 
other authors whom Hamilton at first proposes to Gram- 
mont as capable of writing his life (though, on reflection, 
he thinks them not suited to it) is Boileau, whose genius 

* " L,e bel air de la cour est d'aller a la jolie maison, que le roi a don- 
nee a. la Comtesse de Gramont dans le Pare de Versailles. C'est tellement 
la mode, que c'est une honte de n'y avoir pas ete. La Comtesse de 
Gramont se porte tres-bien : il est certain que le roi la traite a merveille. 
Paris, le 5 Aout, 1703." — Lettre de Madame de Coulanges a Madame 
de Grignan. 

t A translation of this epistle, which is a complete sketch of the 
Grammont Memoirs, is subjoined to this Biographical Sketch of the 
Author. 



ANTHONY HAMILTON. 



he professes to admire ; but adds that his muse has some- 
what of malignity ; and that such a muse might caress 
with one hand and satirize him with the other. This let- 
ter was sent by Hamilton to Boileau, who answered him 
with great politeness ; but, at the same time that he 
highly extolled the epistle to Grammont, he, very nat- 
urally, seemed anxious to efface any impression which 
such a representation of his satiric vein might make on 
the Count's mind, and accordingly added a few compli- 
mentary verses to him : this letter is dated Paris, 8th Feb- 
ruary, 1705. About the same time, another letter was 
written to Hamilton on the subject of the Epistle to 
Grammont, by La Chapelle, who also seemed desirous 
that his life should be given to the public, but was much 
perplexed which of the most celebrated ancients to com- 
pare the Count to. Mecaenas first presented himself to 
his imagination : absurdly enough, in my opinion ; fot 
there was not a trace of similitude between the two char- 
acters. This, however, afforded him some opportunity, 
as he thought, of discovering a resemblance between 
Horace and Hamilton, in which he equally failed. Pe- 
tronius is then brought forward as affording some com- 
parison to the Count ; a man of pleasure, giving up the 
day to sleep and the night to entertainment ; but then, 
adds La Chapelle, it will be suggested that, such is the 
perpetual activity of the Count of Grammont 1 s mind, he 
may be said to sleep neither night nor day ; and if Pe- 
tronius died, the Count seems determined never to die at 
all. (He was at this time about eighty-five years of age.) 
It may well be supposed that all this, though now per- 
fectly vapid and uninteresting, was extremely flattering 
to Grammont ; and the result was that he very much 
wished to have his life, or part of it, at least, given to the 
public. Hamilton, who had been so long connected 
with him, and with whose agreeable talents he was now 
so familiarized, was, on every account, singled out by 
him as the person who could best introduce him histori- 



10 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF 

cally to the public. It is ridiculous to mention Gram- 
mont as the author of his own Memoirs : his excellence, 
as a man of wit, was entirely limited to conversation. 
Bussy Rabutin, who knew him perfectly, states that he 
wrote almost worse than any one. If this was said, and 
very truly, of him in his early days, it can hardly be 
imagined that he would, when between eighty and 
ninety years of age, commence a regular, and, in point 
•of style, most finished composition. Besides, indepen- 
dent of everything else, what man would so outrage all 
decorum as to call himself the admiration of the age ? 
for so is Grammont extolled in the Memoirs, with a 
variety of other encomiastic expressions ; although, per- 
haps, such vanity has not been without example. Ham- 
ilton, it is true, says that he acts as Grammont' s secre- 
tary, and only holds the pen, whilst the Count dictates 
to him such particulars of his life as were the most 
singular and least known. This is said with great 
modesty, and, as to part of the work, perhaps with great 
truth : it requires, however, some explanation. Gram- 
mont was more than twenty years older than Hamilton ; 
consequently, the earlier part of his life could only have 
been known, or was best known, to the latter from re- 
peated conversations, and the long intimacy which sub- 
sisted between them. Whether Grammont formally 
dictated the events of his younger days, or not, is of 
little consequence : from his general character, it is prob- 
able that he did not. However, the whole account of 
such adventures as he was engaged in, from his leaving 
home to his interview with Cardinal Mazarin (excepting 
the character of Monsieur de Senantes, and Matta, who 
was well known to Hamilton), the relation of the siege 
of L,erida, the description of Gregorio Brice, and the 
inimitable discovery of his own magnificent suit of 
clothes on the ridiculous bridegroom at Abbeville ; all 
such particulars must have been again and again re- 
peated to Hamilton by Grammont, and may therefore 



ANTHONY HAMILTON. 11 

be fairly grounded on the Count's authority. The char- 
acters of the court of Charles II., and its history, are 
to be ascribed to Hamilton : from his residence, at va- 
rious times, in the court of London, his connection with 
the Ormond family, not to mention others, he must have 
been well acquainted with them. L,ady Chesterfield, 
who may be regarded almost as the heroine of the work, 
was his cousin-german. * But, although the history 
altogether was written by Hamilton, it may not perhaps 
be known to every reader that Grammont himself sold 
the manuscript for fifteen hundred livres ; and when it 
was brought to Fontenelle, then censor of the press, he 
refused to license it, from respect to the character of the 
Count, which, he thought, was represented as that of a 
gambler, and an unprincipled one, too. In fact, Gram- 
mont, like many an old gentleman, seems to have recol- 
lected the gaieties of his youth with more complaisance 
than was necessary, and has drawn them in pretty 
strong colors in that part of the work which is more 
particularly his own. He laughed at poor Fontenelle' s 
scruples, and complained to the chancellor, who forced 
the censor to acquiesce : the license was granted, and 
the Count put the whole of the money, or the best part 
of it, in his pocket, though he acknowledged the work 
to be Hamilton's. This is exactly correspondent to his 
general character : when money was his object, he had 
little, or rather no delicacy. 

The History of Grammont may be considered as 
unique : there is nothing like it in any language. For 
drollery, knowledge of the world, various satire, gen- 
eral utility, united with great vivacity of composition, 
Gil Bias is unrivalled : but, as a merely agreeable book, 
the Memoirs of Grammont perhaps deserve that char- 
acter more than any which was ever written : it is pleas- 



*She was born at the castle of Kilkenny, July, 1640, as appears 
from Carte's life of her father, the Duke of Ormond. 



12 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF 



antry throughout, and pleasantry of the best sort, un- 
forced, graceful, and engaging. Some French critic 
has justly observed, that, if any book were to be selected 
as affording the truest specimen of perfect French gaiety, 
the Memoirs of Grammont would be selected in prefer- 
ence to all others. This has a Frenchman said of the 
work of a foreigner : but that foreigner possessed much 
genius, had lived from his youth, not only in the best 
society of France, but with the most singular and agree- 
able man that France could produce. Still, however, 
though Grammont and Hamilton were of dispositions 
very different, the latter must have possessed talents pe- 
culiarly brilliant, and admirably adapted to coincide 
with, and display those of his brother-in-law to the 
utmost advantage. Gibbon extols the ' ' ease and purity 
of Hamilton's inimitable style ; " and in this he is sup- 
ported by Voltaire, although he adds the censure, that 
the Grammont Memoirs are, in point of materials, the 
most trifling ; he might also in truth have said, the most 
improper. The manners of the court of Charles II. 
were, to the utmost, profligate and abandoned : yet in 
what colors have they been drawn by Hamilton ? The 
elegance of his pencil has rendered them more seductive 
and dangerous, than if he had more faithfully copied the 
originals. From such a mingled mass of grossness of 
language, and of conduct, one would have turned away 
with disgust and abhorrence ; but Hamilton was, to use 
the words of his admirer, Lord Orford, ' ' superior to the 
indelicacy of the court," whose vices he has so agreeably 
depicted ; and that superiority has sheltered such vices 
from more than half the oblivion which would now have 
forever concealed them. 

The Count de Grammont died in 1707. Some years 
after the publication of his Memoirs, Hamilton was en- 
gaged in a very different work : he translated Pope's 
Essay on Criticism into French, and, as it should seem, 
so much to that great poet's satisfaction, that he wrote a. 



ANTHONY HAMILTON. 



13 



very polite letter of thanks to him, which is inserted in 
Pope's Correspondence. Hamilton's Essay was, I be- 
lieve, never printed, though Pope warmly requested to 
have that permission : the reign of Louis XIV. had now 
ceased ; and, for several years before his death, the 
character of the old court of that prince had ceased 
also : profligacy and gaiety had given way to devotion 
and austerity. Of Hamilton's friends and literary ac- 
quaintance few were left : the Duke of Berwick was em- 
ployed in the field, or at Versailles : some of the ladies, 
however, continued at St. Germain ; and in their society, 
particularly that of his niece, the Countess of Stafford 
(in whose name he carried on a lively correspondence 
with Lady Mary Wortley Montague), he passed much 
of his time. He occasionally indulged in poetical com- 
positions of a style suited to his age and character ; and 
when he was past seventy, he wrote that excellent copy 
of verses, Sur P Usage de la Vie dans la Vieillesse ; which, 
for grace of style, justness and purity of sentiment, does 
honor to his memory. 

Hamilton died at St. Germain, in April, 1720, aged 
about seventy-four. His death was pious and resigned. 
From his poem, entitled Reflections* he appears, like 
some other authors, to have turned his mind, in old age, 
entirely to those objects of sacred regard, which, sooner 
or later, must engage the attention of every rational 



* Voltaire, upon slight evidence, had imputed to him, at an earlier 
period, sentiments of irreligion similar to his own : 

Aupres d'eux le vif Hamilton, 

Toujours arme d'un trait qui blesse, 

Medisait de l'humaine espece, 

Et meme d'un peu mieux, dit-on. 
But whether Voltaire had any better foundation for insinuating this 
charge than the libertine tone of Hamilton's earlier works, joined to 
his own wish to hold up a man of genius as a partisan of his own 
opinions, must remain doubtful ; while it is certain that Hamilton, in 
his latter years, sincerely followed the Christian religion. 



14 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF 

mind. To poetry he bids an eternal adieu, in language 
which breathes no diminution of genius, at the moment 
that he forever recedes from the poetical character. But 
he aspired to a better. The following lines are interest- 
ing, for they evidently allude to his own situation ; and 
may every one, who, from a well-directed, or mistaken, 
but pure and generous zeal, is, through the course of a 
long life, assailed by the temptations of poverty, find that 
consolation in an innocence of manners, which Hamilton 
so well invoked, and, it is to be hoped, not altogether in 
vain : 

" Fille du ciel, pure Innocence ! 
Asile contre tous nos maux, 
Vrai centre du parfait repos ! 
Heureux celui, dont la Constance, 
Vous conservant dans l'abondance, 
Ne vous perrl point, dans les travaux 
D'une longue et triste indigence ! " 

Whatever were Hamilton's errors, his general char- 
acter was respectable. He has been represented as grave, 
and even dull, in society ; the very reverse, in short, of 
what he appears in his Memoirs : but this is probably 
exaggerated. Unquestionably, he had not the unequalled 
vivacity of the Count de Grammont in conversation ; as 
Grammont was, on the other hand, inferior, in all re- 
spects, to Hamilton when the pen was in his hand ; the 
latter was, however, though reserved in a large society, 
particularly agreeable in a more select one. Some of 
his letters remain, in which he alludes to his want of that 
facility at impromptu which gave such brilliancy to the 
conversation of some of his brother wits and contempo- 
raries. But, while we admit the truth of this, let it be 
remembered, at the same time, that when he wrote this, 
he was by no means young ; that he criticised his own 
defects with severity ; that he was poor, and living in 
a court which itself subsisted on the alms of another. 
Amidst such circumstances, extemporary gaiety cannot 



ANTHONY HAMILTON. 



15 



always be found. I can suppose, that the Duchess of 
Maine, who laid claim to the character of a patroness of 
wit, and, like many who assert such claims, was very 
troublesome, very self-sufficient, and very exigeante, 
might not always have found that general superiority, or 
even transient lustre, which she expected in Hamilton's 
society : yet, considering the great difference of their age 
and situation, this circumstance will not greatly impeach 
his talents for conversation. But the work of real genius 
must forever remain ; and of Hamilton's genius, the 
Grammont Memoirs will always continue a beauteous 
and graceful monument. To that monument may also 
be added, the candor, integrity, and unassuming virtues 
of the amiable author. 




, 




PORTRAIT OF THE COUNT DE GRAMMONT. 



EPISTLE TO THE COUNT DE GR1MM0NT, 

BY ANTHONY HAMILTON, 
IN HIS OWN AND HIS BROTHER'S NAME.* 

Oh ! thou, the glory of the shore, 
Where Corisanda f saw the day, 

The blessed abode of Menodore ; 

Thou whom the fates have doom'd to stray 
Far from that pleasant shore away, 

On which the sun, at parting, smiles, 
Ere, gliding o'er the Pyrenees, 
Spain's tawny visages he sees, 

And sinks behind the happy isles ; 



* It is dated from Grammont's villa of Semeat, upon the banks of the 
Garonne, where it would seem Philibert and Anthony Hamilton were 
then residing. 

f Corisande and Menadaure were both ancestresses of the Count de 
Grammont, and celebrated for beauty. 
(16) 



EPISTLE TO THE COUNT DE GRAMMONT. 17 

Thou, who of mighty monarchs' court 
So long hast shone unerring star, 

Unmatched in earnest or in sport, 
In love, in frolic, and in war ! 

To you, sir, this invocation must needs be addressed ; 
for whom else could it suit ? But you may be puzzled 
even to guess who invokes you, since you have heard 
nothing of us for an age, and since so long an absence 
may have utterly banished us from your recollection. 
Yet we venture to flatter ourselves it may be otherwise. 

For who was e' er forgot by thee ? 
Witness, at Lerida, Don Brice,* 
And Barcelona's lady nice, — . 

Donna Ragueza, fair and free ; . *j 

Witness too Boniface at Breda, 
And Catalonia and Gasconne, 
From Bordeaux walls to far Bayonne, 

From Perpignan to Pueycreda, 

And we your friends of fair Garonne. 

Even in these distant and peaceful regions, we hear, 
by daily report, that you are more agreeable, more une- 
qualled, and more marvellous than ever. Our country 
neighbors, great news-mongers, apprised by their corre- 
spondents of the lively sallies with which you surprise 
the court, often ask us if you are not the grandson of that 
famous Chevalier de Grammont, of whom such wonders 
are recorded in the History of the Civil Wars ? Indignant 
that your identity should be disputed in a country where 
your name is so well known, we had formed a plan of 
giving some faint sketch of your merits and history. 



* Don Brice is celebrated in the Memoirs, but Donna Ragueza does 
not appear there. 
o 



18 EPISTLE TO THE 

But who were we, that we should attempt the task ? 
With talents naturally but indifferent, and now rusted by 
long interruption of all intercourse with the court, how 
were it possible for us to display taste and politeness, 
excelling all that is to be found elsewhere, and which 
yet must be attributes of those fit to make you their 
theme ? 

Can mediocrity avail, 

To follow forth such high emprize ? 

In vain our zeal to please you tries, 
Where noblest talents well might fail ; 
Where loftiest bards might yield the pen, 

And own 'twere rash to dare, 
'Tis meet that country gentlemen 

Be silent in despair. 

We therefore limited our task to registering all 
the remarkable particulars of your life which our mem- 
ory could supply, in order to communicate those 
materials to the most skilful writers of the metropolis. 
But the choice embarrassed us. Sometimes we thought 
of addressing our Memoirs to the Academy, persuaded 
that as you had formerly sustained a logical thesis, * you 
must know enough of the art to qualify you for being 
received a member of that illustrious body, and praised 
from head to foot upon the day of admission. Some- 
times, again, we thought, that, as, to all appearance, no 
one will survive to pronounce your eulogium when you 
are no more, it ought to be delivered in the way of 
anticipation by the reverend Father Massillon or De La 
Rue. But we considered that the first of these expedi- 
ents did not suit your rank, and that, as to the second, 
it would be against all form to swathe you up while 
alive in the tropes of a funeral sermon. The celebrated 

* I presume, when he was educated for the church. 



COUNT DE GRAMMONT. 19 

Boileau next occurred to us, and we believed at first 
lie was the very person we wanted ; but a moment's 
reflection satisfied us that he would not answer our pur- 
pose. . 

Sovereign of wit, he sits alone, 

And joys him in his glory won ; 

Or if, in history to live, 

The first of monarchs' feats he give, 

Attentive Phcebus guides his hand, 

And Memory's daughters round him stand ; 

He might consign, and only he, 

Thy fame to immortality. 

Yet, vixen still, his muse would mix 

Her playful but malicious tricks, 

Which friendship scarce might smother. 
So gambols the ambiguous cat, 
Deals with one paw a velvet pat, 

And scratches you with t'other. 



The next expedient which occurred to us was, to have 
your portrait displayed at full length in that miscellany 
which lately gave us such an excellent letter of the illus- 
trious chief of your house. Here is the direction we 
• obtained for that purpose : 



Not far from that superb abode 

Where Paris bids her monarchs dwell, 

.Retiring from the Louvre's road, 
The office opes its fruitful cell, 
In choice of authors nothing nice, 
To every work, of every price, 
However rhymed, however writ, 
Especially to folks of wit, 
'When .by rare chance on such they hit. 



20 EPISTLE TO THE 

From thence each month, in gallant quire, 

Flit sonneteers in tuneful sallies, 

All tender heroes of their allies, 
By verse familiar who aspire 
To seize the honor' d name of poet. 

Some scream on mistuned pipes and whistles,. 

Pastorals and amorous epistles ; 
Some, twining worthless wreath, bestow it 

On bards and warriors of their own, 

In camp and chronicle unknown. 
Here, never rare, though ever new, 
Riddle, in veil fantastic screening, 

Presents, in his mysterious mask, 

A useless, yet laborious task, 
To loungers who have nought to do, 

But puzzle out his senseless meaning. 
'Tis here, too, that in transports old, 

New elegies are monthly moaning ; 
Here, too, the dead their lists unfold, 
Telling of heirs and widows groaning ; 

Telling what sums were left to glad them,. 
And here in copper-plate they shine, 
Showing their features, rank, and line, 

And all their arms, and whence they had them.. 



We soon saw it would be impossible to crowd you,, 
with propriety, into so miscellaneous a miscellany : and. 
these various difficulties at length reconciled us to our 
original intention of attempting the adventure ourselves,, 
despite of our insufficiency, and of calling to our assist- 
ance two persons whom we have not the honor to know, 
but some of whose compositions have reached us. In 
order to propitiate them by some civilities, one of us (he 
who wears at his ear that pearl, which, you used to say, 
his mother had hung there out of devotion), began; to> 
invoke them, as you shall hear. 



COUNT DE GRAM MONT. 21 

O ! thou of whom the easy strain 

Enchanted by its happy sway, 
Sometimes the margin of the Seine, 
Sometimes the fair and fertile plain, 

Where winds the Maine her lingering way ; 

Whether the light and classic lay 
Lie at the feet of fair Climene ; 

Or if, La Fare, thou rather choose 

The mood of the theatric muse, 

And raise again, the stage to tread, 

Renowned Greeks and Romans dead ; 

Attend ! — And thou, too, lend thine aid, 

Chaulieu ! on whom, in raptur'd hour, 

Phcebus breath' d energy and power ; 

Come both, and each a stanza place, 

The structure that we raise to grace ; 

To gild our heavy labors o'er, 

Your aid and influence we implore. 

The invocation was scarce fairly written out, when 
we found the theatric muse a little misplaced, as neither 
of the gentlemen invoked appeared to have written any- 
thing falling under her department. This reflection 
embarrassed us ; and we were meditating what turn 
should be given to the passage, when behold ! there ap- 
peared at once, in the midst of the room, a form that 
surprised without alarming us : — it was that of your 
philosopher, the inimitable St. Evremond.* None of 
the tumult which usually announces the arrival of ghosts 
of consequence preceded this apparition. 



* With whom, as appears from the Memoirs, the Count, while resid- 
ing in London, maintained the closest intimacy. St. Evremond was 
delighted with his wit, vivacity, and latitude of principle : He called 
him his hero ; wrote verses in his praise ; in short, took as warm an 
interest in him as an Epicurean philosopher can do in any one but him- 
self. 



22 EPISTLE TO THE 

The sky was clear and still o'erhead, 

No earthquake shook the regions under r 
No subterraneous murmur dread, 

And not a single clap of thunder. 
He was not clothed in rags, or tatter' d, 

Like that same grim and grisly spectre. 
Who, ere Philippi's contest clatter' d, 

The dauntless Brutus came to hector : 
Nor was he clad like ghost of Laius, 

Who', when against his son he pled, 

Nor worse nor better wardrobe had, 
Than scanty mantle of Emaeus : 

Nor did his limbs a shroud encumber, 
Like that which vulgar sprites enfold, 
When, gliding from their ghostly hold, 

They haunt our couch, and scare our slumber. 



By all this we saw the ghost's intention was not to 
frighten us. He was dressed exactly as when we had 
first the pleasure of his acquaintance in London. He 
had the same air of mirth, sharpened and chastened by 
satirical expression, and even the same dress, which 
undoubtedly he had preserved for this visit. Lest you 
doubt it — 



His ancient studying-cap he wore, 
Well tann'd, of good Morocco hide ; * 

The eternal double loop before, 
That lasted till its master died : 

In fine, the self-same equipage, 
As when, with lovely Mazarin, 



* One of St. Evremond's peculiarities was, that, instead of a wig, the 
universal dress of the time, he chose to wear his own gray hair, covered 
with the leathern cap described in the text. 



COUNT DE GRAM MONT. 23 

Still boasting of the name of Sage, 

He drowned, in floods of generous wine, 

The dulness and the frost of age, 
And daily paid the homage due, 
To charms that seem'd forever new. 



As he arrived unannounced, he placed himself be- 
tween us without ceremony, but could not forbear 
smiling at the respect with which we withdrew our 
chairs, under pretence of not crowding him. I had al- 
ways heard that it was necessary to question folks of the 
other world, in order to engage them in conversation ; 
but he soon showed us the contrary ; for, casting his eyes 
on the paper which we had left on the table, — " I ap- 
prove," said he, " of your plan, and I come to give you 
some advice for the execution ; but I cannot comprehend 
the choice you have made of these two gentlemen as 
assistants. I admit, it is impossible to write more 
beautifully than they both do ; but do you not see that 
they write nothing but by starts, and that their subjects 
are as extraordinary as their caprice ? 

Love-lorn and gouty, one soft swain 
Rebels, amid his rhymes profane, 

Against specific water-gruel ; 
Or chirrups, in his ill-tim'd lay, 
The joys of freedom and tokay, 

When Celimena's false or cruel : 
The other, in his lovely strain, 
Fresh from the font of Hippocrene, 

Rich in the charms of sound and sense, 
Throws all his eloquence away, 
And vaunts, the live-long lingering day, 

The languid bliss of indolence. 

" Give up thoughts of them, if you please ; for though 



24 EPISTLE TO THE 

you have invoked them, they won't come the sooner to 
your succor : arrange, as well as you can, the materials 
you had collected for others, and never mind the order 
of time or events : I would advise you, on the contrary, 
to choose the latter years of your hero for your principal 
subject : his earlier adventures are too remote to be al- 
together so interesting in the present day. Make some 
short and light observation on the resolution he has 
formed of never dying, and upon the power he seems 
to possess of carrying it into execution. * 

That art by which his life he has warded. 
And death so often has retarded, 

'Tis strange to me, 

The world's envy 
Has ne'er with jaundiced eye regarded : 
But, mid all anecdotes he tells 
Of warriors, statesmen, and of belles, 

With whom he fought, intrigued, and slept, 
That rare and precious mystery, 
His art of immortality, 

Is the sole secret he has kept. 

' ' Do not embarrass your brains in seeking ornaments, 
or turns of eloquence, to paint his character : that would 
resemble strained panegyric ; and a faithful portrait will 
be his best praise. Take care how you attempt to re- 
port his stories, or dons mots : The subject is too great 
for you.f Try only, in relating his adventures, to color 
over his failings, and give relief to his merits. 



* The Count de Grammont, in his old age, recovered, contrary to the 
expectation of his physicians, and of all the world, from one or two 
dangerous illnesses, which led him often to say, in his lively manner, 
that he had formed a resolution never to die. This declaration is the 
subject of much raillery through the whole epistle. 

| Bussi-Rabutin assures us, that much of the merit of Grammont's 



COUNT DE GRAMMONT. 

'Twas thus, by easy route of yore, 

My hero to the skies I bore. * 

For your part, sketch how beauties tender, 

Did to his vows in crowds surrender : 

Show him forth-following the banners 

Of one who match' d the goddess-born : 
Show how in peace his active manners 

Held dull repose in hate and scorn : 
Show how at court he made a figure, 
Taught lessons to the best intriguer, 
Till, without fawning, like his neighbors, 
His prompt address foil'd all their labors. 



25 



bans mots consisted in his peculiar mode of delivering them although 
his reputation as a wit was universally established. Few of those which 
have been preserved are susceptible of translation; but the following 
mav be taken as a specimen : 

One day when Charles II. dined in state, he made Grammont remark, 
that he was served upon the knee ; a mark of respect not common at 
other courts. " I thank your majesty for the explanation," answered 
Grammont ; " I thought they were begging pardon for giving you so 
badT dinner." Louis XIV., playing at trictrac, disputed a throw with 
his opponent. The bystanders were appealed to, and could not decide 
the caL. It was referred to Grammont, who, from the farther end of 
the gallery, declared against the king. " But you have not heard the 
case " said Louis. "Ah, sire," replied the Count, "if your majesty had 
but a shadow of right, would these gentlemen have failed to decide m 

y0 * r st fa Bvremond, whose attachment to Grammont amounted to enthu- 
siasm composed the following epitaph upon him, made however, long 
before the Count's death, in which he touches many of the topics which 
he here is supposed to recommend to Hamilton. 

Here lies the Count de Grammont, stranger ! 

Old Evremond's eternal theme : 
He who shared Conde's every danger, 

May envy from the bravest claim. 
Wouldst know his art in courtly life ? 
It match' d his courage in the strife. 
Wouldst ask his merit with the fair !— 
Who ever lived his equal there ? 
His wit to scandal never stooping ; ^ 
His mirth ne'er to buffoon' ry drooping : 



26 EPISTLE TO THE 

Canvas and colors change once more, 

And paint him forth in various light :• 
The scourge of coxcomb and of bore ; 
Live record of lampoons in score, 

And chronicle of love and fight ; 
Redoubted for his plots so rare, 
By every happy swain and fair ; 
Driver of rivals to despair ; 

Sworn enemy to all long speeches ; 
Lively and brilliant, frank and free ; 
Author of many a repartee : 
Remember, over all, that he 

Was most renown 'd for storming breaches. 
Forget not the white charger's prance, 

On which a daring boast sustaining, 
He came before a prince of France, 

Victorious in Alsace campaigning. * 
Tell, too, by what enchanting art, 
Or of the head, or of the heart, 

If skill or courage gain'd his aim ; 
When to Saint Albans' foul disgrace, 
Despite his colleague's grave grimace, 
And a fair nymph's seducing face, 
He carried off gay Buckingham, f 



Keeping his character's marked plan, 

As spouse, sire, gallant, and old man. 

But went he to confession duly ? 

At matins, mass, and vespers steady ? 
Fervent in prayer ? — to tell you truly, 
He left these cares to my good lady. 
We may once more see a Turenne ; 

Conde himself may have a double ; 
But to make Grammont o'er again, 

Would cost dame Nature too much trouble. 
* Grammont had promised to the Dauphin, then commanding the 
army in Alsace, that he would join him before the end of the campaign 
mounted on a white horse. 

t Grammont is supposed to have had no small share in determining. 



COUNT DE GRAMMONT. 27 

SpeaK all these feats, and simply speak — 
To soar too high were forward freak — 

To keep Parnassus' skirts discreetest ; 
For 'tis not on the very peak, 

That middling voices sound the sweetest. 
Each tale in easy language dress, 

With natural expression closing ; 
Let every rhyme fall in express ; 
Avoid poetical excess, 

And shun low miserable prosing : 
Doat not on modish style, I pray, 

Nor yet condemn it, with rude passion ; 
There is a place near the Marais, 
Where mimicry of antique lay 

Seems to be creeping into fashion. 
This new and much admired way, 

Of using Gothic words and spelling, 
Costs but the price of Rabelais, 

Or Ronsard's sonnets, to excel in. 
With half a dozen ekes and ayes, 
Or some such antiquated phrase, 
At small expense you'll lightly hit 
On this new strain of ancient wit. 

We assured the spirit we would try to profit by this 
last advice, but that his caution against falling into the 
languor of a prosing narration appeared to us more diffi- 
cult to follow. "Once for all," said he, "do your 
best ; folks that write for the Count de Grammont have 
a right to reckon on some indulgence. At any rate, 
you are only known through him, and, apparently, what 



the Duke of Buckingham, then Charles the Second's favorite minister, 
to break the triple alliance ; for which purpose he went to France with 
the Count, in spite of all that the other English ministers, and even 
his mistress, the celebrated Countess of Shrewsbury, could do to prevent 
him. 



28 - EPISTLE TO THE 

you are about will not increase the public curiosity on 
your own account. I must end my visit, ' ' he continued, 
' ' and by my parting wishes convince my hero that I 
continue to interest myself in his behalf." 

Still may his wit's unceasing charms 

Blaze forth, his numerous days adorning ; 
May he renounce the din of arms, 

And sleep some longer of a morning : 
Still be it upon false alarms, 

That chaplains come to lecture o' er him ■ * 
Still prematurely, as before, 
That all the doctors give him o'er, 

And king and court are weeping for him. 
May such repeated feats convince 

The king he lives but to attend him ; 
And may he, like a grateful prince, 

Avail him of the hint they lend him : 
L,ive long as Grammont's age, and longer, 

Then learn his art still to grow younger. 



Here ceased the ghostly Norman sage, 

A clerk whom we as well as you rate 
The choicest spirit of his age, 

And heretofore your only curate : 
Though not a wight, you see, his spectre 
Doth, like a buried parson's, lecture. 
Then off he glideth to the band 

Of feal friends that hope to greet you, 
But long may on the margin stand, 

Of sable Styx, before they meet you. 

* De Grammont having fallen seriously ill, at the age of seventy-five, 
the king, who knew his free sentiments in religious matters, sent 
Dangeau to give him ghostly advice. The Count, finding his errand, 
turned to his wife, and cried out, "Countess, if you don't look to it, 
Dangeau will cheat you of my conversion." 



COUNT DE GRAMMONT. 29 

No need upon that theme to dwell, 

Since none but you the cause can tell ; 

Yet, if, when some half century more, 

In health and glee, has glided o'er, 

You find you, maugre all your strength, 

Stretch' d out in woeful state at length, 

And forced to Erebus to troop, 

There shall you find the joyous group, 
Carousing on the Stygian border ; 

Waiting, with hollo and with whoop, 
To dub you brother of their order : 

There shall you find Dan Benserade, 
Doughty Chapelle and Sarazine, 
Voiture and Chaplain, gallants fine, 

And he who ballad never made, 

Nor rhymed without a flask of wine. 

Adieu, sir Count, the world around 

Who roam'd in quest of love and battle, 
Of whose high merits fame did tattle, 

As sturdy tilter, knight renown' d. 

Before the warfare of the Fronde, 

Should you again review Gironde, 

Travelling in coach, by journeys slow, 
You'll right hand mark a sweet chateau, 
Which has few ornaments to show, 

But deep, clear streams, that moat the spot, 
'Tis there we dwell — forget us not ! 



Think of us then, pray, sir, if, by chance, you should 
take a fancy to revisit your fair mansion of Semeat. 
In the meanwhile, permit us to finish this long letter ; 
we have endeavored in vain to make something of it, by 
varying our language and style — you see how our best 
efforts fall below our subject. To succeed, it would be 
necessary that he whom our fictions conjured up to our 
assistance were actually among the living. But, alas ! 



30 EPISTLE TO THE COUNT DE GRAMMONT. 

No more shall Evremond incite us, 
That chronicler whom none surpasses, 

Whether his grave or gay delight us ; 
That favorite of divine Parnassus 

Can find no ford in dark Cocytus : 
From that sad river's fatal bourne, 
Alone De Grammont can return. 







ST. EVREMOND. 




MEMOIRS 



OF 



COUNT GRAMMONT. 



CHAPTER I. 



As those who read only for amusement are, in my 
opinion, more worthy of attention than those who open 
a book merely to find fault, to the former I address my- 
self, and for their entertainment commit the following- 
pages to press, without being in the least concerned 
about the severe criticisms of the latter. I further 
declare, that the order of time and disposition of the 
facts, which give more trouble to the writer than pleas- 
ure to the reader, shall not much embarrass me in these 
Memoirs. It being my design to convey a just idea of 
my hero, those circumstances which most tend to illus- 
trate and distinguish his character shall find a place in 
these fragments just as they present themselves to my 
imagination, without paying any particular attention to 
their arrangement. For, after all, what does it signify 

(31) 



32 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

where the portrait is begun, provided the assemblage of 
the parts forms a whole which perfectly expresses the 
original ? The celebrated Plutarch, who treats his 
heroes as he does his readers, commences the life of the 
one just as he thinks fit, and diverts the attention of the 
other with digressions into antiquity, or agreeable pas- 
sages of literature, which frequently have no reference 
to the subject ; for instance, he tells us that Demetrius 
Poliorcetes was far from being so tall as his father, 
Antigonus ; and afterwards, that his reputed father, 
Antigonus, was only his uncle ; but this is not until he 
has begun his life with a short account of his death, his 
various exploits, his good and bad qualities ; and at last, 
out of compassion to his failings, brings forward a com- 
parison between him and the unfortunate Mark Antony. 

In the Life of Numa Pompilius, he begins by a disser- 
tation upon his preceptor Pythagoras ; and, as if he 
thought the reader would be anxious to know whether 
it was the ancient philosopher, or one of the same name, 
who, after being victorious at the Olympic games, went 
full speed into Italy to teach Numa philosophy, and in- 
struct him in the arts of government, he gives himself 
much trouble to explain this difficulty, and, after all, 
leaves it undetermined. 

What I have said upon this subject is not meant to 
reflect upon this historian, to whom, of all the ancients, 
we are most obliged ; it is only intended to authorize 
the manner in which I have treated a life far more ex- 
traordinary than any of those he has transmitted to us. It 
is my part to describe a man whose inimitable character 
casts a veil over those faults which I shall neither palli- 
ate nor disguise ; a man distinguished by a mixture of 
virtues and vices so closely linked together as in appear- 
ance to form a necessary dependence, glowing with the 
greatest beauty when united, shining with the brightest 
lustre when opposed. 

It is this indefinable brilliancy, which, in war, in love, 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 33 

in gaming, and in the various stages of a long life, has 
rendered the Count de Grammont the admiration of his 
age, and the delight of every councry wherein he has 
dtsplayed his engaging wit, dispensed his generosity and 
magnificence, or practised his inconstancy : it is owing 
to this that the sallies of a sprightly imagination have 
produced those admirable bons-mots which have been 
with universal applause transmitted to posterity. It is 
owing to this that he preserved his judgment free and 
unembarrassed in the most trying situations, and enjoyed 
an uncommon presence of mind and facetiousness of tem- 
per in the most imminent dangers of war. I shall not 
attempt to draw his portrait: his person has been 
described by Bussi and St. Evremond,* authors more en- 
tertaining than faithful. The former has represented the 
Chevalier Grammont as artful, fickle, and even somewhat 
treacherous in his amours, and indefatigable and cruel 
in his jealousies. St. Evremond has used other colors to 

* Voltaire, in the age of Louis XIV., ch. 24, speaking of that mon- 
arch, says, "even at the same time when he began to encourage genius 
by his liberality, the Count de Bussi was severely punished for the use 
he made of hib ; he was sent to the Bastile in 1664. The Amours of the 
Gauls was the pretence of his imprisonment ; but the true cause was 
the song in which the king was treated with too much freedom, and 
which, upon this occasion, was brought to remembrance to ruin Bussi, 
the reputed author of it. 

Que Deodatus est heureux, 
De baiser ce bee amoureux, 
Qui d'une oreille a l'autre va ! 

See Deodatus with his billing dear, 

Whose amorous mouth breathes love from ear to ear i 

•'His works were not good enough to compensate for the mischief 
they did him. He spoke his own language with purity : he had some 
merit, but more conceit : and he made no use of the merit he had, but 
to make himself enemies." Voltaire adds, " Bussi was released at the 
end of eighteen months ; but he was in disgrace all the rest of his life, 
in vain protesting a regard for Louis XIV." Bussi died 1693. Of St. 
Evremond, see note, postea. 
3 



34 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 



express the genius and describe the general manners of 
the Count ; whilst both, in their different pictures, have 
done greater honor to themselves than justice to their 
hero. 

It is, therefore, to the Count we must listen, in the 
agreeable relation of the sieges and battles wherein he 
distinguished himself under another hero ; and it is on 
him we must rely for the truth of passages the least 
glorious of his life, and for the sincerity with which he 
relates his address, vivacity, frauds, and the various 
stratagems he practised either in love or gaming. These 
express his true character, and to himself we owe these 
memoirs, since I only hold the pen, while he directs it 
to the most remarkable and secret passages of his life.. 




LOUIS XIV. 




CHAPTER II. 

In those days affairs were not managed in France as 
at present. Louis XIII.* then sat upon the throne, but 
the Cardinal de Richelieu t governed the kingdom; 
great men commanded little armies, and little armies 
did great things : the fortune of great men depended 
solely upon ministerial favor, and blind devotion to the 



* Son and successor of Henry IV. He began to reign 14th May, 
1610, and died 14th May, 1643. 

f Of this great minister Mr. Hume gives the following character : 
"This man had no sooner, by suppleness and intrigue, got possession 
of the reins of government, than he formed at once three mighty pro- 
jects : to subdue the turbulent spirits of the great ; to reduce the rebel- 
lious Huguenots, and to curb the encroaching power of the house of 
Austria. Undaunted and implacable, prudent and active, he brayed 
all the opposition of the French princes and nobles in the prosecution 
of his vengeance ; he discovered and dissipated all their secret cabals 
and conspiracies. His sovereign himself he held in subjection, while 
he exalted the throne. The people, while they lost their liberties, ac- 
quired, by means of his administration, learning, order, discipline and 
renown. That confused and inaccurate genius of government, of which 
France partook in common with other European kingdoms, he changed 
into a simple monarchy, at the very time when the incapacity of Buck- 

(35) 



36 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

will of the minister was the only sure method of ad- 
vancement. Vast designs were then laying in the heart 
of neighboring states the foundation of that formidable 
greatness to which France has now risen : the police was 
somewhat neglected ; the highways were impassable by 
day, and the streets by night ; and robberies were com- 
mitted elsewhere with great impunity. Young men, 
on their first entrance into the world, took what course 
they thought proper. Whoever would, was a chevalier, 
and whoever could, an abbe : I mean a beneficed abbe : 
dress made no distinction between them ; and I believe 
the Chevalier Grammont was both the one and the other 
at the siege of Trino. * 

This was his first campaign, and here he displayed 
those attractive graces which so favorably prepossess, 
and require neither friends nor recommendations in any 
company to procure a favorable reception. The siege 
was already formed when he arrived, which saved him 
some needless risks ; for a volunteer cannot rest at ease 
until he has stood the first fire : he went therefore to re- 
connoitre the generals, having no occasion to reconnoitre 
the place. Prince Thomas t commanded the army ; and 
as the post of lieutenant-general was not then known, 
Du Plessis Pralin % and the famous Viscount Turenne § 

ingham encouraged the free spirit of the commons to establish in Eng- 
land a regular system of liberty." {History of England, vol. iv., p. 
232.) Cardinal Richelieu died 1642. 

* Trino was taken 4th May, 1639. 

t Of Savoy, uncle of the reigning duke. He died 1656. 

% Afterwards Marechal and Duke de Choiseul. He retired from the 
army in 1672. Monsieur Henault, in his History of France, under that 
year, says : " Le Marechal du Plessis ne fit pas cette campagne a cause 
de son grind age ; il dit au roi, qu'il portoit envie a ses enfans, qui 
avoient l'honneur de servir sa majeste, que pour lui il souhaitoit la mort, 
puisqu'il n'etoit plus bon a, rien : le roi l'embrassa, et lui dit : ' M. le 
Marechal, on ne Hravaille que pour approcher de la reputation que 
vous avez acquise : il est agreable de se reposer apres tants de vic- 
toires. ' ' ' 

\ This great general was killed July 27, 1675, by a cannon-shot, near 




xWWt 



SEBBIE a CC 



Jw^^trtsa/ssa^fac^tfcei^/oS <_J/y- 



38 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

more considered, hardships were no more felt in the 
trenches, gravity was at an end with the generals, and 
the troops were no longer dispirited after the arrival of 
the Chevalier Grammont. Pleasure was his pursuit, 
and he made it universal. 

Among the officers in the army, as in all. other places, 
there are men of real merit, or pretenders to it. The 
latter endeavored to imitate the Chevalier Grammont in 
his most shining qualities, but without success ; the 
former admired his talents and courted his friendship. 
Of this number was Matta : * He was agreeable in his 
person, but still more by the natural turn of his wit ; he 

Boze ; and in riding to the place where he was, Turenne received his 
death-blow. The horse of Montecuculi, the opposite general, was, in 
the course of the same day, killed by a cannon-shot. 

* Matta, or Matha, of whom Hamilton has drawn so striking a pict- 
iire, is said to have been of the house of Bourdeille, which had the 
honor to produce Brautome and Montresor. The combination of in- 
dolence and talent, of wit and simplicity, of bluntness and irony, with 
which he is represented, may have been derived from tradition, but 
could only have been united into the inimitable whole by the pen of 
Hamilton. Several of his bons-mots have been preserved ; but the 
spirit evaporates in translation. " Where could I get this nose ? " said 
Madame D'Albret, observing a slight tendency to a flush in that feat- 
ure. "At the sideboard, Madame," answered Matta. When the same 
lady, in despair at her brother's death, refused all nourishment, Matta 
administered this blunt consolation : "If you are resolved, Madame, 
never again to swallow food, you do well ; but if ever you mean to eat 
upon any future occasion, believe me, you may as well begin just now." 
Madame Caylus, in her Souvenirs, commemorates the simple and nat- 
ural humor of Matta as rendering him the most delightful society in 
the world. Mademoiselle, in her Memoirs, alludes to his pleasantry in 
conversation, and turn for deep gaming. When the Memoirs of Gram- 
mont were subjected to the examination of Fontanelle, then censor of 
the Parisian press, he refused to license them, on account of the scan- 
dalous conduct imputed to Grammont in this party at quinze. The 
Count no sooner heard of this than he hastened to Fontanelle, and 
having joked him for being more tender of his reputation than he was 
himself, the license was instantly issued. The censor might have re- 
torted upon Grammont the answer which the Count made to a widow 
who received coldly his compliments of condolence on her husband's 
death : ' ' Nay, Madame, if that is the way you take it, I care as little 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 39 

was plain and simple in his manners, but endued with 
a quick discernment and refined delicacy, and full of 
candor and integrity in all his actions. The Chevalier 
Grammont was not long in discovering his amiable 
qualities ; an acquaintance was soon formed, and was 
succeeded by the strictest intimacy. 

Matta insisted that the Chevalier should take up his 
quarters with him ; to which he only consented on con- 
dition of equally contributing to the expense. As they 
were both liberal and magnificent, at their common cost 
they gave the best designed and most luxurious enter- 
tainments that had ever yet been seen. Play was won- 
derfully productive at first, and the Chevalier restored by 
a hundred different ways that which he obtained only by 
one. The generals, being entertained by turns, admired 
their magnificence, and were dissatisfied with their own 
officers for not keeping such good tables and attendance. 
The Chevalier had the talent of setting off the most 
indifferent things to advantage ; and his wit was so gen- 
erally acknowledged, that it was a kind of disgrace not 
to submit to his taste. To him Matta resigned the care 
of furnishing the table and doing its honors ; and, 
charmed with the general applause, persuaded himself 
that nothing could be more honorable than their way of 
living, and nothing more easy than to continue it ; but 
he soon perceived that the greatest prosperity is not the 
most lasting. Good living, bad economy, dishonest ser- 
vants, and ill luck, all uniting together to disconcert 
their housekeeping, their table was going to be gradually 
laid aside, when the Chevalier's genius, fertile in re- 
sources, undertook to support his former credit by the 
following expedient. 

They had never yet conferred about the state of their 



about it as you do." He died in 1674. " Matta est mort sans confes- 
sion," says Madame Maintenon, in a letter to her brother. Tome I., 
p. 67. 



40 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

finances, although the steward had acquainted each, 
separately, that he must either receive money to continue 
the expenses, or give in his accounts. One day, when 
the Chevalier came home sooner than usual, he found 
Matta fast asleep in an easy chair, and, being unwilling 
to disturb his rest, he began musing on his project. 
Matta awoke without his perceiving it ; and having, for 
a short time, observed the deep contemplation he seemed 
involved in, and the profound silence between two per- 
sons who had never held their tongues for a moment 
when together before, he broke it by a sudden fit of 
laughter, which increased in proportion as the other 
stared at him. "A merry way of waking, and ludicrous 
enough," said the Chevalier, "what is the matter, and 
whom do you laugh at?" "Faith, Chevalier," said 
Matta, "I am laughing at a dream I had just now, which 
is so natural and diverting, that I must make' you laugh 
at it also. I was dreaming that we had dismissed our 
maitre-d' hotel, our cook, and our confectioner, ^having 
resolved, for the remainder of the campaign, to live upon 
others as others have lived upon us : this was my dream. 
Now tell me, Chevalier, on what were you musing?" 
"Poor fellow!" said the Chevalier, shrugging up his 
shoulders, "you are knocked down at once, and thrown 
into the utmost consternation and despair at some silly 
stories which the maitre-d' hotel has been telling you as 
well as me. What ! after the figure we have made in the 
face of the nobility and foreigners in the army, shall we 
give it up, and like fools and beggars sneak off, upon the 
first failure of our money ! Have you no sentiments of 
honor ? Where is the dignity of France? " "And where 
is the money? " said Matta ; "for my men say, the devil 
may take them, if there be ten crowns in the house ; and 
I believe you have not much more, for it is above a week 
since I have seen you pull out your purse, or count your 
money, an amusement you were very fond of in prosper- 
ity." "I own all this," said the Chevalier, "but yet I 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 



41 



will force you to confess, that you are but a mean-spirited 
fellow upon this occasion. What would have become of 
you if you had been reduced to the situation I was in at 
Lyons, four days before I arrived here ? I will tell you 
the story." 




lRECHAE de turenne. 



^SS^"; 




CHAPTER III. 



' ' This, ' ' said Matta, ' ' smells strongly of romance, 
except that it should have been your squire's part to tell 
your adventures. " " True, ' ' said the Chevalier ; ' ' how- 
ever, I may acquaint you with my first exploits without 
offending my modesty ; besides, my squire's style borders 
too much upon the burlesque for an heroic narrative. 

"You must know, then, that upon my arrival at 
Lyons — " "Is it thus you begin?" said Matta. 
"Pray give us your history a little farther back. The 
most minute particulars of a life like yours are worthy of 
relation ; but, above all, the manner in which you first 
paid your respects to Cardinal Richelieu : I have often 
laughed at it. However, you may pass over the unlucky 
pranks of your infancy, your genealogy, name and qual- 
ity of your ancestors, for that is a subject with which you 
must be utterly unacquainted." 

"Pooh !" said the Chevalier; "you think that all the 
world is as ignorant as yourself; — you think that I am a 
stranger to the Mendores and the Corisandes. So, per- 
haps I don't know that it was my father's own fault that 
he was not the son of Henry IV. The King would by 

(42) 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 43 

all means have acknowledged him for his son, but the 
traitor would never consent to it. See what the Gram- 
monts would have been now, but for this cross-grained 
fellow ! They would have had precedence of the Csesafs 
de Vendome. * You may laugh, if you like, yet it is as 
true as the gospel : but let us come to the point. 

" I was sent to the college of Pau,t with the intention 
of being brought up to the church ; but as I had quite 
different views, I made no manner of improvement : 
gaming was so much in my head, that both my tutor and 
the master lost their labor in endeavoring to teach me 
Latin. Old Brinon, who served me both as valet-de- 
chambre and governor, in vain threatened to acquaint 
my mother. I only studied when I pleased, that is to 
say, seldom or never : however, they treated me as is 
customary with scholars of my quality ; I was raised to 
all the dignities of the forms, without having merited 
them, and left college nearly in the same state in which 
I entered it ; nevertheless, I was thought to have more 
knowledge than was requisite for the abbacy which my 
brother had solicited for me. He had just married the 
niece of a minister, to whom every one cringed : he was 
. desirous to present me to him. I felt but little regret to 
quit the country, and great impatience to see Paris. My 
brother having kept me some time with him, in order to 
polish me, let me loose upon the town to shake off my 
rustic air, and learn the manners of the world. I so 
thoroughly gained them, that I could not be persuaded 
to lay them aside when I was introduced at court in the 



* Caesar, Duke de Vendome, was the eldest son of Henry IV., by the 
celebrated Gabrielle d'Estrees. He died in 1665. 

f Pau was the capital of the principality of Bearne, and lies on an 
eminence on the Gave Bearnois, being indeed small and well built, and 
formerly the seat of a parliament, a bailiwick, and a chamber of ac- 
counts. In the palace here was born Henry IV. Exclusive of an acad- 
emy of sciences and liberal arts, there was in it a college of Jesuits, with 
five convents and two hospitals. 



44 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAM MONT. 

character of an Abbe. You know what kind of dress 
was then the fashion. All that they could obtain of me 
was to put a cassock over my other clothes, and my 
brother, ready to die with laughing at my ecclesiastical 
habit, made others laugh too. I had the finest head of 
hair in the world, well curled and powdered, above 
my cassock and below were white buskins and gilt spurs. 
The Cardinal, who had a quick discernment, could not 
help laughing. This elevation of sentiment gave him 
umbrage ; and he foresaw what might be expected from 
a genius that already laughed at the shaven crown and 
cowl. 

"When my brother had taken me home, 'Well, my 
little parson,' said he, 'you have acted your part to ad- 
miration, and your parti-colored dress of the ecclesiastic 
and soldier has greatly diverted the court ; but this is not 
all : you must now choose, my little knight. Consider 
then, whether, by sticking to the church, you will pos- 
sess great revenues, and have nothing to do ; or, with 
a small portion, you will risk the loss of a leg or arm, 
and be th.e.fructus belli of an insensible court, to arrive in 
your old age at the dignity of a major-general, with a 
glass eye and a wooden leg. ' ' I know, ' said I, ' that there 
is no comparison between these two situations, with, re- 
gard to the conveniences of life ; but as a man ought to 
secure his future state in preference to all other consider- 
ations, I am resolved to renounce the church for the sal- 
vation of my soul, upon condition, however, that I keep 
my abbacy.' Neither the remonstrances nor authority 
of my brother could induce me to change my resolution ; 
and he was forced to agree to this last article in order to 
keep me at the academy. You know that I am the most 
adroit man in France, so that I soon learned all that is 
taught at such places, and, at the same time, I also 
learnt that which gives the finishing stroke to a young 
fellow's education, and makes him a gentleman, viz., all 
sorts of games, both at cards and dice ; but the truth is,. 




LO^T. 



DEBBIE 3: CO, 



■ Zratj/ jj/cntj t/t/tfttfaAe /w// //,/. //c/~//ci') J/etsJ-e 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 45 

I thought, at first, that I had more skill in them than I 
really had, as experience proved. When my mother 
knew the choice I had made, she was inconsolable ■ for 
she reckoned, that had I been a clergyman I should have 
been a saint ; but now she was certain that I should either 
be a devil in the world, or be killed in the wars. And 
indeed I burned with impatience to be a soldier ; but 
being yet too young, I was forced to make a campaign at 
Bidache * before I made one in the army. When I re- 
turned to my mother's house, I had so much the air of a 
courtier and a man of the world, that she began to respect 
me instead of chiding me for my infatuation towards the 
army. I became her favorite, and finding me inflexible, 
she only thought of keeping me with her as long as she 
could, while my little equipage was preparing. The 
faithful Brinon, who was to attend me as valet-de-cham- 
bre, was likewise to discharge the office of governor and 
equerry, being, perhaps, the only Gascon who was ever 
possessed of so much gravity and ill-temper. He passed 
his word for my good behavior and morality, and prom- 
ised my mother that he would give a good account of my 
person m the dangers of the war ; but I hope he will 
keep his word better as to this last article than he has 
done as to the former. 

"My equipage was sent away a week before me. This 
was so much time gained by my mother to give me good 
advice. At length, after having solemnly enjoined me 
to have the fear of God before my eyes, and to love my 
neighbor as myself, she suffered me to depart, under the 
protection of the Lord and the sage Brinon. At the sec- 
ond stage we quarrelled. He had received four hun- 
dred louis d'or for the expenses of the campaign: I 
wished to have the keeping of them myself, which he 
strenuously opposed. 'Thou old scoundrel,' said I, 'is 
the money thine, or was it given thee for me ? You sup- 

* A principality belonging to the family of the Grammonts, in the 
province of Gascony. 



46 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

pose I must have a treasurer, and receive no money with- 
out his order. ' I know not whether it was from a present- 
iment of what afterwards happened that he grew melan- 
choly ; however it was with the greatest reluctance and the 
most poignant anguish, that he found himself obliged 
to yield. One would have thought that I had wrested 
his very soul from him. I found myself more light and 
merry after I had eased him of his trust ; he, on the con- 
trary, appeared so overwhelmed with grief, that it seemed 
as if I had laid four hundred pounds of lead upon his 
back, instead of taking away these four hundred louis. 
He went on so heavily, that I was forced to whip his 
horse myself, and turning to me, now and then, 'Ah ! 
sir,' said he, 'my lady did not think it would be so.' 
His reflections and sorrows were renewed at every stage; 
for, instead of giving a shilling to the post-boy, I gave 
him half-a-crown. 

"Having at last reached Lyons, two soldiers stopped 
us at the gate of the city, to carry us before the gover- 
nor. I took one of them to conduct me to the best inn, 
and delivered Brinon into the hands of the other, to ac- 
quaint the commandant with the particulars of my jour- 
ney, and my future intentions. 

"There are as good taverns at Lyons as at Paris ; but 
my soldier, according to custom, carried me to a friend 
of his own, whose house he extolled as having the best 
accommodations, and the greatest resort of good company 
in the whole town. The master of this hotel was as biof 
as a hogshead, his name Cerise ; a Swiss by birth, a poi- 
soner by profession, and a thief by custom. He showed 
me into a tolerably neat room, and desired to know 
whether I pleased to sup by myself or at the ordinary. 
I chose the latter, on account of the beau monde which 
the soldier had boasted of. 

"Brinon, who was quite out of temper at the many 
questions which the governor had asked him, returned 
more surly than an old ape ; and seeing that I was dress- 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 47 

ing my hair, in order to go downstairs : ' What are you 
about now, sir ? ' said he. 'Are you going to tramp about 
the town ? No, no ; have we not had tramping enough 
ever since the morning ? Eat a bit of supper, and go to 
bed betimes, that you may get on horseback by day- 
break.' ' Mr. Comptroller,' said I, ' I shall neither tramp 
about the town, nor eat alone, nor go to bed early. I 
intend to sup with the company below. ' 'At the ordi- 
nary !' cried he ; ' I beseech you, sir, do not think of it ! 
Devil take me, if there be not a dozen brawling fellows 
playing at cards and dice, who make noise enough to 
drown the loudest thunder ! ' 

' ' I was grown insolent since I had seized the money ; 
and being desirous to shake off the yoke of a governor, 
'Do you know, Mr. Brinon,' said I, 'that I don't like a 
blockhead to set up for a reasoner ? Do you go to sup- 
per, if you please ; but take care that I have post-horses 
ready before daybreak.' The moment he mentioned 
cards and dice, I felt the money burn in my pocket. I 
was somewhat surprised, however, to find the room where 
the ordinary was served filled with odd-looking creatures. 
My host, after presenting me to the company, assured 
me that there were but eighteen or twenty of those gen- 
tlemen who would have the honor to sup with me. I 
approached one of the tables where they were playing, 
and thought I should have died with laughing : I ex- 
pected to have seen good company and deep play ; but I 
only met with two Germans playing at backgammon. 
Never did two country loobies play like them ; but their 
figures beggared all description. The fellow near whom 
I stood was short, thick, and fat, and as round as a ball, 
with a ruff, and prodigious high-crowned hat. Any one, 
at a moderate distance, would have taken him for the 
dome of a church, with the steeple on the top of it. I 
inquired of the host who he was. 'A merchant from 
Basle,' said he, 'who comes hither to sell horses; but 
from the method he pursues, I think he will not dispose 



48 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

of many ; for he does nothing but play. ' ' Does he play 
deep? ' said I. ' Not now, ' said he ; ' they are only play- 
ing for their reckoning, while supper is getting ready.; 
but he has no objection to play as deep as any one.' 
'Has he money?' said I. 'As for that,' replied the 
treacherous Cerise, ' would to God you had won a thou- 
sand pistoles of him, and I went your halves ; we should 
not be long without our money. ' I wanted no further 
encouragement to meditate the ruin of the high-crowned 
hat. I went nearer to him, in order to take a closer sur- 
vey ; never was such a bungler ; he made blots upon 
blots ; God knows, I began to feel some remorse at win- 
ning of such an ignoramus, who knew so little of the 
game. He lost his reckoning ; supper was served up ; 
and I desired him to sit next me. It was a long table, 
and there were at least five-and-twenty in company, not- 
withstanding the landlord's promise. The most ex- 
ecrable repast that ever was begun being finished, all the 
crowd insensibly dispersed, except the little Swiss, who 
still kept near me, and the landlord, who placed him- 
self on the other side of me. They both smoked like 
dragoons ; and the Swiss was continually saying, in bad 
French, 'I ask your pardon, sir, for my great freedom,' 
at the same time blowing such whiffs of tobacco in my 
face as almost suffocated me. Mr. Cerise, on the other 
hand, desired he might take the liberty of asking me 
whether I had ever been in his country? and seemed 
surprised I had so genteel an air, without having travelled 
in Switzerland. 

' ' The little chub I had to encounter was full as in- 
quisitive as the other. He desired to know whether I 
came from the army in Piedmont ; and having told him 
I was going thither, he asked me, whether I had a mind 
to buy any horses ; that he had about two hundred to 
dispose of, and that he would sell them cheap. I began 
to be smoked like a gammon of bacon ; and being quite 
wearied out, both with their tobacco and their questions, 




// /// 1 m / "M eefa ' /a/%/eHt>nfayr?z>< 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 49 

I asked my companion if he would play for a single pis- 
tole at backgammon, while our men were supping ; it 
was not without great ceremony that he consented, at 
the same time asking my pardon for his great freedom. 

' ' I won the game ; I gave him his revenge, and won 
again. We then played double or quit ; I won that too, 
and all in the twinkling of an eye ; for he grew vexed, 
and suffered himself to be taken in so that I began to 
bless my stars for my good fortune. Brinon came in 
about the end of the third game, to put me to bed ; he 
made a great sign of the cross, but paid no attention to 
the signs I made him to retire. I was forced to rise to 
.give him that order in private. He began to reprimand 
me for disgracing myself by keeping company with such 
a low-bred wretch. It was in vain that I told him he 
was a great merchant, that he had a great deal of money, 
and that he played like a child. ' He a merchant ! ' cried 
Brinon. ' Do not believe that, sir ! May the devil take 
-me, if he is not some conjurer.' ' Hold your tongue, old 
fool, ' said I ; ' he is no more a conjurer than you are, 
.and that is decisive ; and, to prove it to you, I am re- 
solved to win four or five hundred pistoles of him before 
I go to bed. ' With these words I turned him out, strictly 
enjoining him not to return, or in any manner to disturb 
ns. 

' ' The game being done, the little Swiss unbuttoned 
his pockets, to pull out a new four-pistole piece, and 
-presenting it to me, he asked my pardon for his great 
freedom, and seemed as if he wished to retire. This was 
not what I wanted. I told him we only played for 
amusement ; that I had no design upon his money ; and 
that, if he pleased, I would play him a single game for 
liis four pistoles. He raised some objections ; but con- 
sented at last, and won back his money. I was piqued 
at it. I played another game ; fortune changed sides ; 
(the dice ran for him, he made no more blots. I lost the 

;game ; another game, and double or quit ; we doubled 
4 



50 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

the stake, and played double or quit again. I was vexed ; 
he, like a true gamester, took every bet I offered, and 
won all before him, without my getting more than six 
points in eight or ten games. I asked him to play a 
single game for one hundred pistoles ; but as he saw I 
did not stake, he told me it was late ; that he must go 
and look after his horses ; and went away, still asking 
my pardon for his great freedom. The cool manner of 
his refusal, and the politeness with which he took his. 
leave, provoked me to such a degree, that I could almost 
have killed him. I was so confounded at losing my 
money so fast, even to the last pistole, that I did not 
immediately consider the miserable situation to which I 
was reduced. 

" I durst not go up to my chamber for fear of Brinon. 
By good luck, however, he was tired with waiting for 
me, and had gone to bed. This was some consolation, 
though but of short continuance. As soon as I was laid 
down, all the fatal consequences of my adventure pre- 
sented themselves to my imagination. I could not sleep. 
I saw all the horrors of my misfortune, without being 
able to find any remedy ; in vain did I rack my brain ; it 
supplied me with no expedient. I feared nothing so 
much as daybreak ; however, it did come, and the cruel 
Brinon along with it. He was booted up to the middle, 
and cracking a cursed whip, which he held in his hand, 
; Up, Monsieur le Chevalier, ' cried he, opening the cur- 
tains ; ' the horses are at the door, and you are still 
asleep. We ought by this time to have ridden two stages ;, 
give me money to pay the reckoning. ' ' Brinon, ' said I, 
in a dejected tone, ' draw the curtains. ' ' What ! ' cried 
he, ' draw the curtains ! Do you intend, then, to make 
your campaign at Lyons ? you seem to have taken a lik- 
ing to the place. And for the great merchant, you have 
stripped him, I suppose ? No, no, Monsieur le Chevalier, 
this money will never do you any good. This wretch 
has, perhaps, a family ; and it is his children's bread 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 51 

that he has been playing with, and that you have won. 
Was this an object to sit up all night for? What would 
my lady say, if she knew what a life you lead ? ' ' M. 
Brinon,' said I, 'pray draw the curtains.' But instead 
of obeying me, one would have thought that the devil 
had prompted him to use the most pointed and galling 
terms to a person under such misfortunes. ' And how 
much have you won ? ' said he ; ' five hundred pistoles ? 
what must the poor man do? Recollect, Monsieur le 
Chevalier, what I have said, this money will never thrive 
with you. It is, perhaps, but four hundred? three? two? 
well if it be but one hundred louis d'or,' continued he, 
seeing that I shook my head at every sum which he had 
named, ' there is no great mischief done ; one hundred 
pistoles will not ruin him, provided you have won them 
fairly.' 'Friend Brinon,' said I, fetching a deep sigh, 
' draw the curtains ; I am unworthy to see daylight. ' 
Brinon was much affected at these melancholy words, 
but I thought he would have fainted, when I told him 
the whole adventure. He tore his hair, made grievous 
lamentations, the burden of which still was, ' What will 
my lady say?' And, after having exhausted his un- 
profitable complaints, ' What will become of you now, 
Monsieur le Chevalier ? ' said he, ' what do you intend to" 
do ? ' ' Nothing, ' said I, ' for I am fit for nothing. ' After 
this, being somewhat eased after making him my confes- 
sion, I thought upon several projects, to none of which 
could I gain his approbation. I would have had him 
post after my equipage, to have sold some of my clothes. 
I was for proposing to the horse-dealer to buy some 
horses of him at a high price on credit, to sell again 
cheap. Brinon laughed at all these schemes, and after 
having had the cruelty of keeping me upon the rack for 
a long time, he at last extricated me. Parents are always 
stingy towards their poor children ; my mother intended 
to have given me five hundred louis d'or, but she had 
kept back fifty, as well for some little repairs in the 



52 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

abbey, as to pay for praying for me. Brinon had the 
charge of the other fifty, with strict injunctions not to 
speak of them, unless upon some urgent necessity. And 
this you see soon happened. 

' ' Thus you have a brief account of my first adven- 
ture. Play has hitherto favored me ; for, since my 
arrival, I have had, at one time, after paying all my ex- 
penses, fifteen hundred louis d'or. Fortune is now 
again become unfavorable : we must mend her. Our 
cash runs low ; we must, therefore, endeavor to recruit. ' ' 

' ' Nothing is more easy, ' ' said Matta ; " it is only to 
find out such another dupe as the horse-dealer at Lyons ; 
but now I think on it, has not the faithful Brinon some 
reserve for the last extremity ? Faith, the time is now 
come, and we cannot do better than to make use of it. ' ' 

"Your raillery would be very seasonable," said this 
Chevalier, " if you knew how to extricate us out of the 
difficulty. You must certainly have an overflow of wit, 
to be throwing it away upon every occasion as at present. 
What the devil ! will you always be bantering, without 
considering what a serious situation we are reduced to. 
Mind what I say, I will go to-morrow to the head- 
quarters, I will dine with the Count de Cameran, and I 
will invite him to supper." "Where?" said Matta. 
"Here," said the Chevalier. " You are mad, my poor 
friend," replied Matta. "This is some such project as 
you formed at Lyons : you know we have neither money 
nor credit ; and, to re-establish our circumstances, you 
intend to give a supper. ' ' 

" Stupid fellow ! " said the Chevalier, " is it possible, 
that, so long as we have been acquainted, you should 
have learned no more invention ? The Count de Cam- 
eran plays at quinze, and so do I ; we want money ; he 
has more than he knows what to do with ; I will be- 
speak a splendid supper, he shall pay for it. Send your 
maitre-d' hotel to me, and trouble yourself no further, 
except in some precautions, which it is necessary to take 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 53 

on such an occasion." " What are they? " said Matta. 
" I will tell you," said the Chevalier ; "for I find one 
must explain to you things that are as clear as noon- 
day." 

" You command the guards that are here, don't you? 
As soon as night comes on, you shall order fifteen or 
twenty men, under the command of your sergeant L,a 
Place, to be under arms, and to lay themse^es flat on 
the ground, between this place and the head-quarters." 
"What the devil!" cried Matta, "an ambuscade? 
God forgive me, I believe you intend to rob the poor 
Savoyard. If that be your intention, I declare I will 
have nothing to say to it." "Poor devil!" said the 
Chevalier, ' ' the matter is this ; it is very likely that we 
shall win his money. The Piedmontese, though other- 
wise good fellows, are apt to be suspicious and distrust- 
ful. He commands the horse ; you know you cannot 
hold your tongue, and are very likely to let slip some 
jest or other that may vex him. Should he take it into 
his head that he is cheated, and resent it, who knows 
what the consequences might be? for he is commonly 
attended by eight or ten horsemen. Therefore, however 
he may be provoked at his loss, it is proper to be in such 
a situation as not to dread his resentment." 

"Embrace me, my dear Chevalier," said Matta, 
holding his sides and laughing ; ' ' embrace me, for 
thou art not to be matched. What a fool I was to think, 
when you talked to me of taking precautions, that 
nothing more was necessary than to prepare a table and 
cards, or perhaps to provide some false dice ! I should 
never have thought of supporting a man who plays at 
quinze by a detachment of foot : I must, indeed, confess 
that you are already a great soldier." 

The next day everything happened as the Chevalier 
Grammont had planned it ; the unfortunate Cameran 
fell into the snare. They supped in the most agreeable 
manner possible : Matta drank five or six bumpers to 



54 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

drown a few scruples which made him somewhat un- 
easy. The Chevalier de Grammont shone as usual, and 
almost made his guest die with laughing, whom he was 
soon aftei to make very serious ; and the good-natured 
Cameran ate like a man whose affections were divided 
between good cheer and a love of play ; that is to say, 
he hurried down his victuals, that he might not lose any 
of the precious time which he had devoted to quinze. 

Supper being done, the sergeant La Place posted his 
ambuscade, and the Chevalier de Grammont engaged 
his man. The perfidy of Cerise, and the high-crowned 
hat, were still fresh in remembrance, and enabled him 
to get the better of a few grains of remorse, and conquer 
some scruples which arose in his mind. Matta, unwill- 
ing to be a spectator of violated hospitality, sat down 
in an easy chair, in order to fall asleep, while the Chev- 
alier was stripping the poor Count of his money. 

They only staked three or four pistoles at first, just 
for amusement ; but Cameran having lost three or four 
times, he staked high, and the game became serious. 
He still lost, and became outrageous ; the cards flew 
about the room, and the exclamations awoke Matta. 

As his head was heavy with sleep, and hot with wine, 
he began to laugh at the passion of the Piedmontese, 
instead of consoling him. "Faith, my poor Count," 
said he, " if I were in your place, I would play no 
more." " Why so ?" said the other. " I don't know," 
said he, " but my heart tells me that your ill-luck will 
continue." "I will try that," said Cameran, calling 
for fresh cards. "Do so," said Matta, and fell asleep 
again. It was but for a short time. All cards were 
equally unfortunate for the loser. He held none but 
tens or court-cards ; and if by chance he had quinze, he 
was sure to be the younger hand, and therefore lost it. 
Again he stormed. "Did not I tell you so?" said 
Matta, starting out of his sleep. ' 'All your storming is 
in vain ; as long as you play you will lose. Believe 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 55 

me, the shortest follies are the best. Iyeave off, for the 
devil take me if it is possible for you to win." 
"Why?" said Cameran, who began to be impatient. 
' ' Do you wish to know ? ' ' said Matta ; ' ' why, faith, it 
is because we are cheating you." 

The Chevalier de Grammont was provoked at so ill- 
timed a jest, more especially as it carried along with it 
some appearance of truth. " Mr. Matta," said he, "do 
you think it can be very agreeable for a man who plays 
with such ill-luck as the Count to be pestered with your 
insipid jests? For my part, I am so weary of the game 
that I would desist immediately, if he was not so great 
•a loser." Nothing is more dreaded by a losing game- 
ster than such a threat ; and the Count, in a softened 
tone, told the Chevalier that Mr. Matta might say what 
he pleased, if he did not offend him ; that, as to him- 
.self, it did not give him the smallest uneasiness. 

The Chevalier de Grammont gave the Count far bet- 
ter treatment than he himself had experienced from the 
Swiss at I^yons ; for he played upon credit as long as he 
pleased, which Cameran took so kindly, that he lost fif- 
teen hundred pistoles, and paid them the next morning. 
As for Matta, he was severely reprimanded for the in- 
temperance of his tongue. All the reason he gave for 
his conduct was, that he made it a point of conscience 
not to suffer the poor Savoyard to be cheated without 
informing him of it. "Besides," said he, "it would 
have given me pleasure to have seen my infantry en- 
gaged with his horse, if he had been inclined to mis- 
chief." 

This adventure having recruited their finances, for- 
tune favored them the remainder of the campaign, and 
the Chevalier de Grammont, to prove that he had only 
seized upon the Count's effects by way of reprisal, and 
to indemnify himself for the losses he had sustained at 
X,yons, began from this time to make the same use of 
his money, that he has been known to do since upon all 



56 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

occasions. He found out the distressed in order to re- 
lieve them ; officers who had lost their equipage in the 
war, or their money at play ; soldiers who were disabled 
in the trenches ; in short every one felt the influence of 
his benevolence : but his manner of conferring a favor 
exceeded even the favor itself. 

Every man possessed of such amiable qualities must 
meet with success in all his undertakings. The soldiers 
knew his person and adored him. The generals were 
sure to meet him in every scene of action, and sought 
his company at other times. As soon as fortune declared, 
for him, his first care was to make restitution, by desir- 
ing Cameran to go his halves in all parties where the 
odds were in his favor. 

An inexhaustible fund of vivacity and good humor 
gave a certain air of novelty to whatever he either said 
or did. I know not on what occasion it was that Mon- 
sieur de Turenne, towards the end of the siege, com- 
manded a separate body. The Chevalier de Grammont 
went to visit him in his new quarters, where he found 
fifteen or twenty officers. M. de Turenne was naturally 
fond of merriment, and the Chevalier's presence was 
sure to inspire it. He was much pleased with this visit, 
and by way of acknowledgment, would have engaged 
him to play. The Chevalier de Grammont, in returning- 
him thanks, said, that he had learned from his tutor, 
that when a man went to see his friends, it was neither 
prudent to leave his own money behind him, nor civil 
to carry off theirs. ' ' Truly, ' ' said Monsieur de Turenne,. 
"you will find neither deep play nor much money 
among us ; but, that it may not be said that we suffered 
you to depart without playing, let us stake every one a 
horse. ' ' 

The Chevalier de Grammont agreed. Fortune, who 
had followed him to a place where he did not think he 
should have any need of her, made him win fifteen or 
sixteen horses, by way of joke ; but seeing some counte- 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 57 

nances disconcerted at the loss, "Gentlemen," said he, 
' ' I should be sorry to see you return on foot from your 
general's quarters ; it will be enough for me if you send 
me your horses to-morrow, except one, which I give for 
the cards. ' ' 

The valet-de-chambre thought he was bantering. ' ' I 
speak seriously," said the Chevalier, " I give you a horse 
for the cards ; and, what is more, take whichever you 
please, except my own. " " Truly, ' ' said Monsieur de 
Turenne, ' ' I am vastly pleased with the novelty of the 
thing ; for I don't believe that a horse was ever before 
given for the cards. ' ' 

Trino surrendered at last. The Baron de Batteville, * 
who had defended it valiantly, and for a long time, ob- 
tained a capitulation worthy of such a resistance. I do 



* This officer appears to have been the same person who was after- 
wards ambassador from Spain to the court of Great Britain, where, in 
the summer of 1660, he offended the French court, by claiming prece- 
dence of their ambassador, Count d'Estrades, on the public entry of the 
Swedish ambassador into London. On this occasion the court of France 
compelled its rival of Spain to submit to the mortifying circumstance of 
acknowledging the French superiority. To commemorate this important 
victory, Louis XIV. caused a medal to be struck, representing the Span- 
ish ambassador, the Marquis de Fuente, making the declaration to that 
king, ' ' No concurrer con los ambassadores des de Francia, ' ' with this 
inscription, "Jus prsecedendi assertum," and under it, "Hispaniorum 
excusatio coram xxx legatis principum, 1662." A very curious account 
of the fray occasioned by this dispute, drawn up by Evelyn, is to be seen 
in that gentleman's article in the Biographia Britannica. Lord Clar- 
endon, speaking of Baron de Batteville, says, he was born in Burgundy, 
in the Spanish quarters, and bred a soldier, in which profession he was 
an officer of note, and at that time was governor of St. Sebastian, and 
of that province. He seemed a rough man, and to have more of the 
camp, but, in truth, knew the intrigues of a court better than most 
Spaniards ; and, except when his passion surprised him, was wary and 
cunning in his negotiation. He lived with less reservation and more 
jollity than the ministers of that crown used to do, and drew such of 
the court to his table and conversation as he observed to be loud talk- 
ers, and confident enough in the king's presence. — Continuation of 
Clarendon, p. 84. 



58 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 



not know whether the Chevalier de Grammont had any 
share in the capture of this place ; but I know very well, 
that during a more glorious reign, and with armies ever 
victorious, his intrepidity and address have been the 
cause of taking others since, even under the eye of 
his master, as we shall see in the sequel of these 
memoirs. 




PRINCE DE CONDE. 




CHAPTER IV. 



Military glory is at most but one-half of the accom- 
plishments which distinguish heroes. Love must give 
the finishing stroke, and adorn their character by the 
difficulties they encounter, the temerity of their enter- 
prises, and finally, by the lustre of success. We have 
examples of this, not only in romances, but also in the 
genuine histories of the most famous warriors, and the 
most celebrated conquerors. 

The Chevalier de Grammont and Matta, who did not 
think much of these examples, were, however, of opin- 
ion, that it would be very agreeable to refresh themselves 
after the fatigues of the siege of Trino, by forming some 
other sieges, at the expense of the beauties and husbands 
of Turin. As the campaign had finished early, they 
thought they should have time to perform some exploits 
before the bad weather obliged them to repass the 
mountains. 

They sallied forth, therefore, not unlike Amadis de 
Gaul or Don Galaor after they had been dubbed knights, 
eager in their search after adventures in love, war, and 
enchantments. They were greatly superior to those two 
brothers, who only knew how to cleave in twain giants, 

(59) 



60 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

to break lances, and to carry off fair damsels behind 
them on horseback, without saying a single word to 
them ; whereas our heroes were adepts at cards and dice, 
of which the others were totally ignorant. 

They went to Turin, met with an agreeable reception, 
and were greatly distinguished at court. Could it be 
otherwise ? They were yoUng and handsome ; they had 
wit at command, and spent their money liberally. In 
what country will not a man succeed, possessing such 
advantages ? As Turin was at that time the seat of gal- 
lantry and of love, two strangers of this description, who 
were always cheerful, brisk, and lively, could not fail 
to please the ladies of the court. 

Though the men of Turin were extremely handsome, 
they were not, however, possessed of the art of pleasing. 
They treated their wives with respect, and were cour- 
teous to strangers. Their wives, still more handsome, 
were full as courteous to strangers, and less respectful to 
their husbands. 

Madame Royale,* a worthy daughter of Henry IV.,. 
rendered her little court the most agreeable in the 
world. She inherited such of her father's virtues as 
compose the proper ornament of her sex ; and with 
regard to what are termed the foibles of great souls, 
her highness had in no wise degenerated. 

The Count de Tanes was her prime minister. It was 
not difficult to conduct affairs of state during his admin- 



* Christina, second daughter of Henry IV., married to Victor Ama- 
deus, Prince of Piedmont, afterwards Duke of Savoy. She seems to 
have been well entitled to the character here given of her. Keysler, 
in his Travels, vol. i., p. 239, speaking of a fine villa, called La Vigne 
de Madame Royale, near Turin, says, "During the minority under the 
regent Christina, both the house and garden were often the scenes of 
riot and debauchery. On this account, in the king's advanced age, 
when he was, as it were, inflamed with an external flame of religion, 
with which possibly the admonitions of his father-confessor might con- 
cur, this place became so odious to him, that, upon the death of 
Madame Royale, he bestowed it on the hospital." She died in 1663. 





V 



. ' // ///' ^UU( ?/-/>/ c 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 61 

istration. No complaints were alleged against him ; 
and the princess, satisfied with his conduct herself, was, 
above all, glad to have her choice approved by her whole 
court, where people lived nearly according to the man- 
ners and customs of ancient chivalry. 

The ladies had each a professed lover, for fashion's 
sake, besides volunteers, whose numbers were unlimited. 
The declared admirers wore their mistresses' liveries, 
their arms, and sometimes even took their names. Their 
office was, never to quit them in public, and never to 
approach them in private ; to be their squires upon all 
occasions, and, in jousts and tournaments, to adorn their 
lances, their housings, and their coats, with the ciphers 
and the colors of their dulcineas. 

Matta was far from being averse to gallantry ; but 
would have liked it more simple than as it was practised 
at Turin. The ordinary forms would not have disgusted 
him ; but he found here a sort of superstition in the 
ceremonies and worship of love, which he thought very 
inconsistent : however, as he had submitted his conduct 
in that matter to the direction of the Chevalier de Gram- 
mont, he was obliged to follow his example, and to con- 
form to the customs of the country. 

They enlisted themselves at the same time in the ser- 
vice of two beauties, whose former squires gave them up 
immediately from motives of politeness. The Chevalier 
de Grammont chose Mademoiselle de Saint-Germain, and 
told Matta to offer his services to Madame de Senantes. 
Matta consented, though he liked the other better ; but 
the Chevalier de Grammont persuaded him that Madame 
de Senantes was more suitable for him. As he had 
reaped advantage from the Chevalier's talents in the first 
projects they had formed, he resolved to follow his in- 
structions in love, as he had done his advice in play. 

Mademoiselle de Saint-Germain was in the bloom of 
youth ; her eyes were small, but very bright and spark- 
ling, and, like her hair, were black ; her complexion was 



62 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

lively and clear, though not fair : she had an agreeable- 
mouth, two fine rows of teeth, a neck as handsome as 
one could wish, and a most delightful shape ; she had a 
particular elegance in her elbows, which, however, she 
did not show to advantage ; her hands were rather large 
and not very white ; her feet, though not of the smallest, 
were well shaped ; she trusted to Providence, and used 
no art to set off those graces which she had received from 
nature ; but, notwithstanding her negligence in the em- 
bellishment of her charms, there was something so lively 
in her person, that the Chevalier de Grammont was, 
caught at first sight ; her wit and humor corresponded 
with her other qualities, being quite easy and perfectly 
charming ; she was all mirth, all life, all complaisance- 
and politeness, and all was natural, and always the same 
without any variation. 

The Marchioness de Senantes * was esteemed fair, and 
she might have enjoyed, if she had pleased, the reputa- 
tion of having red hair, had she not rather chosen to- 
conform to the taste of the age in which she lived than 
to follow that of the ancients : she had all the advan- 
tages of red hair without any of the inconveniences ; a 
constant attention to her person served as a corrective to- 
the natural defects of her complexion. After all, what 
does it signify, whether cleanliness be owing to nature 
or to art ? it argues an invidious temper to be very in- 
quisitive about it. She had a great deal of wit, a good 
memory, more reading, and a still greater inclination 
towards tenderness. 

She had a husband whom it would have been criminal 
even in chastity to spare. He piqued himself upon being 
a Stoic, and gloried in being slovenly and disgusting in 
honor of his profession. In this he succeeded to admira- 
tion ; for he was very fat, so that he perspired almost as 



* Lord Orford says, the family of Senantes still remains in Piedmont, 
and bears the title of Marquis de Carailles. 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 63 

much in winter as in summer. Erudition and brutality 
seemed to be the most conspicuous features of his char- 
acter, and were displayed in his conversation, sometimes 
together, sometimes alternately, but always disagreeably ; 
he was not jealous, and yet he was troublesome ; he was 
very well pleased to see attentions paid to his wife, pro- 
vided more were paid to him. 

' 'As soon as our adventurers had declared themselves, 
the Chevalier de Grammont arrayed himself in green 
habiliments, and dressed Matta in blue, these being the 
favorite colors of their new mistresses. They entered 
immediately upon duty : the Chevalier learned and 
practised all the ceremonies of this species of gallantry, 
as if he always had been accustomed to them ; but Matta 
commonly forgot one-half, and was not over perfect in 
practising the other. He never could remember that 
his office was to promote the glory, and not the interest, 
of his mistress. 

The Duchess of Savoy gave the very next day an en- 
tertainment at I,a Venerie, * where all the ladies were 
invited. The Chevalier was so agreeable and diverting, 
that he made his mistress almost die with laughing. 
Matta, in leading his lady to the coach, squeezed her 
hand, and at their return from the promenade he begged 

*This place is thus described by Keysler, Travels, vol. i., p. 235— 
"The palace most frequented by the royal family is La Venerie, the 
court generally continuing there from the spring to December. It is 
about a league from Turin : the road that leads to it is well paved, and 
the greatest part of it planted with trees on each side : it is not always 
in a direct line, but runs a little winding between fine meadows, fields, 
and vineyards." After describing the palace as it then was, he adds— 
"The, palace garden at present consists only of hedges and walks, 
whereas formerly it had fine water-works and grottos, besides the 
fountain of Hercules and the temple of Diana, of which a description 
may be seen in the Nouveau Theatre de Piedmont. But now nothing 
of these remains, being gone to ruin, partly by the ravages of the 
French, and partly by the king's order that they should be demolished, 
to make room for something else ; but those vacuities have not yet, 
and probably will not very soon be filled up." 



64 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

of her to pity his sufferings. This was proceeding rather 
too precipitately, and although Madame de Senantes 
was not destitute of the natural compassion of her sex, 
she nevertheless was shocked at the familiarity of this 
treatment ; she thought herself obliged to show some 
degree of resentment, and pulling away her hand, which 
he had pressed with still greater fervency upon this 
declaration, she went up to the royal apartments without 
even looking at her new lover. Matta, never thinking 
that he had offended her, suffered her to go, and went 
in search of some company to sup with him : nothing 
was more easy for a man of his disposition ; he soon found 
what he wanted, sat a long time at table to refresh him- 
self after the fatigues of love, and went to bed com- 
pletely satisfied that he had performed his part to perfec- 
tion. 

During all this time the Chevalier de Grammont 
acquitted himself towards Mademoiselle de Saint Ger- 
main with universal applause ; and without remitting 
his assiduities, he found means to shine, as they went 
along, in the relation of a thousand entertaining anec- 
dotes, which he introduced in the general conversation. 
Her Royal Highness heard them with pleasure, and the 
solitary Senantes likewise attended to them. He per- 
ceived this, and quitted his mistress to inquire what she 
had done with Matta. 

" I ! " said she, " I have done nothing with him ; but 
I don't know what he would have done with me if I had 
been obliging enoagh to listen to his most humble 
solicitations. ' ' 

She then told him in what manner his friend had 
treated her the very second day of their acquaintance. 

The Chevalier could not forbear laughing at it ; he 
told her that Matta was rather too unceremonious, but 
yet she would like him better as their intimacy more 
improved, and for her consolation he assured her that 
he would have spoken in the same manner to her Royal 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 65 

Highness herself ; however, he would not fail to give 
him a severe reprimand. He went the next morning 
into his room for that purpose ; but Matta had gone out 
early in the morning on a shooting party, in which he 
had been engaged by his supper companions in the pre- 
ceding evening. At his return he took a brace of par- 
tridges and went to his mistress. Being asked whether 
lie wished to see the Marquis, he said no ; and the Swiss 
telling him his lady was not at home, he left his par- 
tridges, and desired him to present them to his mistress 
from him. 

The Marchioness was at her toilet, and was decorating 
her head with all the grace she could devise to captivate 
Matta, at the moment he was denied admittance ; she 
knew nothing of the matter ; but her husband knew 
-every particular. He had taken it in dudgeon that 
the first visit was not paid to him, and, as he was 
i-esolved that it should not be paid to his wife, the 
Swiss had received his orders, and had almost been 
"beaten for receiving the present which had been left. 
The partridges, however, were immediately sent back, 
.and Matta, without examining into the cause, was glad 
to have them again. He went to court without ever 
changing his clothes, or in the least considering he 
-ought not to appear there without his lady's colors. He 
found her becomingly dressed ; her eyes appeared to him 
more than usually sparkling, and her whole person 
altogether divine. He began from that day to be much 
pleased with himself for his complaisance to the Cheva- 
lier de Grammont ; however, he could not help remark- 
ing that she looked but coldly upon him. This 
appeared to him a very extraordinary return for his 
services, and, imagining that she was unmindful of her 
weighty obligations to him, he entered into conversation 
with her, and severely reprimanded her for having sent 
foack his partridges with so much indifference. 

She did not understand what he meant ; and highly 



66 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

offended that he did not apologize, after the reprimand 
which she concluded him to have received, told him 
that he certainly had met with ladies of very complying 
dispositions in his travels, as he seemed to give to himself 
airs that she was by no means accustomed to endure. 
Matta desired to know wherein he could be said to have 
given himself any. ' ' Wherein ? ' ' said she : ' ' the sec- 
ond day that you honored me with your attentions, you 
treated me as if I had been your humble servant for a 
thousand years ; the first time that I gave you my hand 
you squeezed it as violently as you were able. After 
this commencement of your courtship, I got into my 
coach, and you mounted your horse ; but instead of rid- . 
ing by the side of the coach, as any reasonable gallant 
would have done, no sooner did a hare start from her 
form, than you immediately galloped full speed after 
her ; having regaled yourself, during the promenade, by 
taking snuff, without ever deigning to bestow a thought 
on me, the only proof you gave me, on your return, that 
you recollected me, was by soliciting me to surrender 
my reputation in terms polite enough, but very explicit. 
And now you talk to me of having been shooting of par- 
tridges and of some visit or other, which, I suppose, you 
have been dreaming of, as well as of all the rest." 

The Chevalier de Grammont now advanced, to the 
interruption of this whimsical dialogue. Matta was re- 
buked for his forwardness, and his friend took abundant 
pains to convince him that his conduct bordered more 
upon insolence than familiarity. Matta endeavored to 
exculpate himself, but succeeded ill. His mistress took 
compassion upon him, and consented to admit his excuses 
for the manner, rather than his repentance for the fact, 
and declared it was the intention alone which could 
either justify or condemn, in such cases ; that it was 
very easy to pardon those transgressions which arise 
from excess of tenderness, but not such as proceeded 
from too great a presumption of success. Matta. 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 67 

swore that he only squeezed her hand from the vio- 
lence of his passion, and that he had been driven, 
by necessity, to ask her to relieve it ; that he was yet a 
novice in the arts of solicitation ; that he could not pos- 
sibly think her more worthy of his affection, after a 
month's service, than at the present moment ; and that 
he entreated her to cast away an occasional thought upon 
him when her leisure admitted. The Marchioness was 
not offended ; she saw very well that she must require an 
implicit conformity to the established rule of decorum, 
when she had to deal with such a character ; and the 
Chevalier de Grammont, after this sort of reconciliation, 
went to look after his own affair with Mademoiselle de 
St. Germain. 

His concern was not the offspring of mere good nature, 
nay, it was the reverse ; for no sooner did he perceive that 
the Marchioness looked with an eye of favor upon him, 
than this conquest, appearing to him to be more easy 
than the other, he thought it was prudent to take advan- 
tage of it, for fear of losing the opportunity, and that he 
might not have spent all his time to no purpose, in 
case he should prove unsuccessful with the little St. 
Germain. 

In the mean time, in order to maintain that authority 
which he had usurped over the conduct of his friend, he, 
that very evening, notwithstanding what had been 
already said, reprimanded him for presuming to appear 
at court in his morning suit, and without his mistress's 
badge ; for not having had the wit or prudence to pay 
his first visit to the Marquis de Senantes, instead of con- 
suming his time, to no purpose, in inquiries for the lady; 
and to conclude, he asked him what the devil he meant 
by presenting her with a brace of miserable red par- 
tridges. "And why not?" said Matta: "ought they to 
have been blue, too, to match the cockade and sword- 
knots you made me wear the other day ? Plague not me 
wfth your nonsensical whimsies : my life on it. in one 



68 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT, 

fortnight your equal in foppery and folly will not be 
found throughout the confines of Turin ; but to reply to 
your questions, I did not call upon Monsieur de Senantes, 
because I had nothing to do with him, and because he is 
of a species of animals which I dislike, and always shall 
dislike : as for you, you appear quite charmed with being 
decked out in green ribands, with writing letters to your 
mistress, and filling your pockets with citrons, pistachios, 
and such sort of stuff, with which you are always cram- 
ming the poor girl's mouth, in spite of her teeth : you 
hope to succeed by chanting ditties composed in the days 
of Corisande and of Henry IV., which you will swear 
yourself have made upon her : happy in practising the 
ceremonials of gallantry, you have no ambition for the 
essentials. Very well : every one has a particular way 
of acting, as well as a particular taste : yours is to trifle 
in love ; and, provided you can make Mademoiselle de 
St. Germain laugh, you are satisfied : as for my part, I 
am persuaded, that women here are made of the same 
materials as in other places ; and I do not think that they 
can be mightily offended, if one sometimes leaves off tri- 
fling, to come to the point : however, if the Marchioness 
is not of this way of thinking, she may e'en provide her- 
self elsewhere, for I can assure her, that I shall not long 
act the part of her squire. ' ' 

This was an unnecessary menace ; for the Marchioness 
in reality liked him very well, was nearly of the same 
way of thinking herself, and wished for nothing more 
than to put his gallantry to the test. But Matta pro- 
ceeded upon a wrong plan ; he had conceived such an 
aversion for her husband, that he could not prevail upon 
himself to make the smallest advance towards his good 
graces. He was given to understand that he ought to 
begin by endeavoring to lull the dragon to sleep, before 
he could gain possession of the treasure ; but this was all 
to no purpose, though, at the same time, he could never 
see his mistress but in public. This made him impa- 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 69 

tient, and as he was lamenting his ill-fortune to her one 
day: ' l Have the goodness, madame," said he, " to let me 
know where you live : there is never a day that I do not 
call upon you, at least, three or four times, without ever 
being blessed with a sight of you." " I generally sleep 
at home, ' ' replied she, laughing, ' ' but I must tell you, 
that you will never find me there, if you do not first pay 
a visit to the Marquis : I am not mistress of the house. 
I do not tell you," continued she, "that he is a man 
whose acquaintance any one would very impatiently 
covet for his conversation : on the contrary, I agree that 
his humor is fantastical, and his manners not of the 
pleasing cast ; but there is nothing so savage and inhu- 
man which a little care, attention, and complaisance 
may not tame into docility. I must repeat to you some 
verses upon the subject: I have got them by heart, because 
they contain a little advice, which you may accommo- 
date, if you please, to your own case. ' ' 

RONDEAU. 

Keep in mind these maxims rare, 
You who hope to win the fair ; 
Who are, or would esteemed be, 
The quintessence of gallantry. 

That fopp'ry, grinning, and grimace, 
And fertile store of common-place ; 
That oaths as false as dicers swear. 
And iv'ry teeth, and scented hair ; 
That trinkets, and the pride of dress, 
Can only give your scheme success. 

Keep in mind. 

Hast thy charmer e'er an aunt? 
Then learn the rules of woman's cant, 
And forge a tale, and swear you read it, 
Such as, save woman, none would credit l 
Win o'er her confidante and pages 
By gold, for this a golden age is ; 



70 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

And should it be her wayward fate, 
To be encumbered with a mate, 
A dull, old dotard should he be, 
That dulness claims thy courtesy. 

Keep in mind. 

"Truly," said Matta, "the song may say what it 
pleases, but I cannot put it in practice : your husband 
is far too exquisite a monster for me. Why, what a 
plaguey odd ceremony do you require of us in this coun- 
try, if we cannot pay our compliments to the wife with- 
out being in love with the husband ! ' ' 

The Marchioness was much offended at this answer ; 
and as she thought she had done enough in pointing out 
to him the path which would conduct him to success, if 
he had deserved it, she did not think it worth while to 
enter into any farther explanation ; since he refused to 
cede, for her sake, so trifling an objection : from this in- 
stant she resolved to have done with him. 

The Chevalier de Grammont had taken leave of his 
mistress nearly at the same time : the ardor of his pur- 
suit was extinguished. It was not that Mademoiselle de 
Saint Germain was less worthy than hitherto of his atten- 
tions : on the contrary her attractions visibly increased : 
she retired to her pillow with a thousand charms, and 
ever rose from it with additional beauty : the phrase of 
increasing in beauty as she increased in years seemed to 
have been purposely made for her. The Chevalier could 
not deny these truths, but yet he could not find his 
account in them : a little less merit, with a little less dis- 
cretion, would have been more agreeable. He perceived 
that she attended to him with pleasure, that she was 
diverted with his stories as much as he could wish, and 
that she received his billets and presents without scruple ; 
but then he also discovered that she did not wish to pro- 
ceed any farther. He had exhausted every species of 
address upon her, and all to no purpose : her attendant 
was gained : her family, charmed with the music of his 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 71 

conversation and his great attention, were never happy 
without him : in short, he had reduced to practice the 
advice contained in the Marchioness's song, and every- 
thing conspired to deliver the little Saint Germain into 
his hands, if the little Saint Germain had herself been 
willing : but alas ! she was not inclined. It was in vain 
he told her the favor he desired would cost her nothing ; 
and that since these treasures were rarely comprised in 
the fortune a lady brings with her in marriage, she would 
never find any person, who, by unremitting tenderness, 
unwearied attachment, and inviolable secrecy, would 
prove more worthy of them than himself. He then told 
her no husband was ever able to convey a proper idea of 
the sweets of love, and that nothing could be more differ- 
ent than the passionate fondness of a lover, always ten- 
der, always affectionate, yet always respectful, and the 
careless indifference of a husband. 

Mademoiselle de Saint Germain, not wishing to take 
the matter in a serious light, that she might not be 
forced to resent it, answered, that since it was generally 
the custom in her country to marry, she thought it was 
right to conform to it, without entering into the knowl- 
edge of those distinctions, and those marvellous particu- 
lars, which she did not very well understand, and of 
which she did not wish to have any further explanation ; 
that she had submitted to listen to him this one time, 
but desired he would never speak to her again in the 
. same strain, since such sort of conversation was neither 
entertaining to her, nor could be serviceable to him. 
Though no one was ever more facetious than Madem- 
oiselle de Saint Germain, she yet knew how to assume 
a very serious air, whenever occasion required it. The 
Chevalier de Grammont soon saw that she was in ear- 
nest ; and finding it would cost him a great deal of time 
to effect a change in her sentiments, he was so far 
cooled in this pursuit, that he only made use of it to 
hide the designs he had upon the Marchioness de Se- 
nantes. 



72 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

He found this lady much disgusted at Matta's want of 
complaisance ; and his seeming contempt for her erased 
every favorable impression which she had once enter- 
tained for him. While she was in this humor, the 
Chevalier told her that her resentment was just ; he ex- 
aggerated the loss which his friend had sustained ; he 
told her that her charms were a thousand times superior 
to those of the little Saint Germain, and requested that 
favor for himself which his friend did not deserve. He 
was soon favorably heard upon this topic ; and as soon 
as they were agreed, they consulted upon two measures 
necessary to be taken, the one to deceive her husband, 
the other his friend, which was not very difficult : Matta 
was not at all suspicious : and the stupid Senantes, to- 
wards whom the Chevalier had already behaved as Matta 
had refused to do, could not be easy without him. This 
was much more than was wanted ; for as soon as ever the 
Chevalier was with the Maichioness, her husband imme- 
diately joined them out of politeness ; and on no account 
would have left them alone together, for fear they should, 
grow weary of each other without him. 

Matta, who all this time was entirely ignorant that he 
was disgraced, continued to serve his mistress in his own 
way. She had agreed with the Chevalier de Grammont, 
that to all appearance everything should be carried on as- 
before ; so that the court always believed that the Mar- 
chioness only thought of Matta, and that the Chevalier- 
was entirely devoted to Mademoiselle de Saint Germain. 

There were very frequently little lotteries for trinkets : 
the Chevalier de Grammont always tried his fortune, and 
was sometimes fortunate ; and under pretence of the 
prizes he had won, he bought a thousand things which 
he indiscreetly gave to the Marchioness, and which she 
still more indiscreetly accepted : the little Saint Germain 
very seldom received anything. There are meddling 
whisperers everywhere : remarks were made upon these 
proceedings ; and the same person that made them com- 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 73 

municated them likewise to Mademoiselle de Saint Ger- 
main. She pretended to laugh, but in reality was piqued. 
It is a maxim religiously observed by the fair sex, to 
envy each other those indulgences which themselves 
refuse. She took this very ill of the Marchioness. On 
the other hand, Matta was asked if he was not old enough 
to make his own presents himself to the Marchioness de 
Senantes, without sending them by the Chevalier de 
Grammont. This roused him ; for of himself, he would 
never have perceived it : his suspicions, however, were 
but slight, and he was willing to have them removed. 
"I must confess," said he to the Chevalier de Gram- 
mont, " that they make love here quite in a new style ; 
a man serves here without reward : he addresses himself 
to the husband when he is in love with the wife, and 
makes presents to another man's mistress, to get into the 
good graces of his own. The Marchioness is much ob- 
liged to you for " "It is you who are obliged," 

replied the Chevalier, ' ' since this was done on your 
account : I was ashamed to find you had never yet 
thought of presenting her with any trifling token of your 
attention : do you know that the people of this court 
have such extraordinary notions, as to think that it is 
rather owing to inadvertency that you never yet have 
had the spirit to make your mistress the smallest pres- 
ent? For shame! how ridiculous it is, that you can 
never think for yourself ! ' ' 

Matta took this rebuke, without making any answer, 
being persuaded that he had in some measure deserved 
it : besides, he was neither sufficiently jealous, nor suffi- 
ciently amorous, to think any more of it ; however, as 
it was necessary for the Chevalier's affairs that Matta 
should be acquainted with the Marquis de Senantes, he 
plagued him so much about it, that at last he complied. 
His friend introduced him, and his mistress seemed 
pleased with this proof of complaisance, though she was 
resolved that he should gain nothing by it : and the hus- 



74 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

band, being gratified with a piece of civility which he 
had long expected, determined, that very evening, to 
give them a supper at a little country seat of his, on the 
banks of the river, very near the city. 

The Chevalier de Grammont answering for them both, 
accepted the offer ; and as this was the only one Matta 
would not have refused from the Marquis, he likewise 
consented. The Marquis came to convey them in his 
carriage at the hour appointed ; but he found only Matta. 
The Chevalier had engaged himself to play, on purpose 
that they might go without him : Matta was for waiting 
for him, so great was his fear of being left alone with 
the Marquis ; but the Chevalier having sent to desire 
them to go on before, and that he would be with them 
as soon as he had finished his game, poor Matta was ob- 
liged to set out with the man who, of all the world, was 
most offensive to him. It was not the Chevalier's inten- 
tion quickly to extricate Matta out of this embarrass- 
ment : he no sooner knew that they were gone, than he 
waited on the Marchioness, under pretence of still find- 
ing her husband, that they might all go together to 
supper. 

The plot was in a fair way ; and as the Marchioness 
was of opinion that Matta' s indifference merited no bet- 
ter treatment from her, she made no scruple of. acting 
her part in it : she therefore waited for the Chevalier de 
Grammont with intentions so much the more favorable, 
as she had for a long time expected him, and had 
some curiosity to receive a visit from him in the 
absence of her husband. We may therefore suppose 
that this first opportunity would not have been lost, 
if Mademoiselle de Saint Germain had not unex- 
pectedly come in, almost at the same time with the 
Chevalier. 

She was more handsome and more entertaining that 
day than she had ever been before ; however, she appeared 
to them very ugly and very tiresome : she soon perceived 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 75 

that her company was disagreeable, and being deter- 
mined that they should not be out of humor with her 
for nothing, after having passed above a long half hour 
in diverting herself with their uneasiness, and in playing 
a thousand monkey tricks, which she plainly saw could 
never be more unseasonable, she pulled off her hood, 
scarf, and all that part of her dress which ladies lay 
aside, when in a familiar manner they intend to pass the 
day anywhere. The Chevalier de'Grammont cursed her 
in his heart, while she continued to torment him for being 
in such ill-humor in such good company : at last the 
Marchioness, who was as much vexed as he was, said 
rather drily that she was obliged to wait on her Royal 
Highness : Mademoiselle de Saint Germain told her that 
she would have the honor to accompany her, if it would 
not be disagreeable : she took not the smallest notice of 
her offer ; and the Chevalier, finding that it would be 
entirely useless to prolong his visit at that time, retired 
with a good grace. 

As soon as he had left the house, he sent one of his 
scouts to desire the Marquis to sit down to table with his 
company without waiting for him, because the game 
might not perhaps be finished as soon as he expected, 
but that he would be with him before supper was over. 
Having despatched this messenger, he placed a sentinel 
at the Marchioness's door, in hopes that the tedious Saint 
Germain might go out before her ; but this was in vain, 
for his spy came and told him, after an hour's impatience 
and suspense, that they were gone out together. He 
found that there was no chance of seeing her again that 
day, everything falling out contrary to his wishes ; he 
was forced therefore to leave the Marchioness, and go in 
quest of the Marquis. 

While these things were going on in the city, Matta 
was not much diverted in the country : as he was preju- 
diced against the Marquis, all that he said displeased 
him : he cursed the Chevalier heartily for the tete-a-tete 



76 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

which he had procured him ; and he was upon the point 
of going away, when he found that he was to sit down to- 
supper without any other company. 

However, as his host was very choice in his entertain- 
ments, and had the best wine and the best cook in all 
Piedmont, the sight of the first course appeased him ; 
and eating most voraciously, without paying any atten- 
tion to the Marquis, he flattered himself that the supper 
would end without any dispute ; but he was mistaken. 

When the Chevalier de Grammont was at first endeav- 
oring to bring about an intercourse between the Marquis 
and Matta, he had given a very advantageous character 
of the latter, to make the former more desirous of his ac- 
quaintance; and in the display of a thousand other accom- 
plishments, knowing what an infatuation the Marquis 
had for the very name of erudition, he assured him that 
Matta was one of the most learned men in Europe. 

The Marquis, therefore, from the moment they sat 
down to supper, had expected some stroke of learning 
from Matta, to bring his own into play ; but he was much 
out in his reckoning; no one had read less, no one thought 
less, and no one had ever spoken so little at an entertain- 
ment as he had done : as he did not wish to enter into 
conversation, he opened his mouth only to eat, or ask 
for wine. 

The other, being offended at a silence which appeared 
to him affected, and wearied with having uselessly 
attacked him upon other subjects, thought he might get 
something out of him by changing the discourse of love 
and gallantry ; and therefore, to begin the subject, he ac- 
costed him in this manner : 

"Since you are my wife's gallant " "I!" said 

Matta, who wished to carry it discreetly : "those who 
told you so, told a d — d lie." "Zounds, sir," said 
the Marquis, "you speak in a tone which does not at all 
become you, for I would have you to know, notwith- 
standing your contemptuous airs, that the Marchioness 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 77 

de Senatites is perhaps as worthy of your attentions as 
any of your French ladies, and that I have known some 
greatly your superiors, who have thought it an honor to 
serve her." "Very well," said Matta, "I think she is 
very deserving, and since you insist upon it, I am her 
servant and gallant, to oblige you. ' ' 

"You think, perhaps," continued the other, "that the 
same custom prevails in this country as in your own, and 
that the ladies have lovers, with no other intentions than 
to grant them favors : undeceive yourself, if you please, 
and know, likewise, that even if such events were fre- 
quent in this court, I should not be at all uneasy." 
"Nothing can be more civil," said Matta ; but where- 
fore would you not? " " I will tell you why," replied 
he : "I am well acquainted with the affection my wife 
entertains for me : I am acquainted with her discretion 
towards all the world ; and, what is more, I am acquainted 
with my own merit. ' ' 

"You have a most uncommon acquaintance, then," 
replied Matta ; " I congratulate you upon it ; I have the 
honor to drink it in a bumper." The Marquis pledged 
Trim ; but seeing that the conversation dropped on their 
ceasing to drink, after two or three healths, he wished 
to make a second attempt, and attack Matta on his strong 
side, that is to say, on his learning. 

He desired him, therefore, to tell him, at what time he 
thought the Allobroges came to settle in Piedmont. 
Matta, who wished him and his Allobroges at the 
-devil, said, that it must be in the time of the civil wars. 
"I doubt that," said the other. "Just as you like," 
said Matta. ' ' Under what consulate ? ' ' replied the 
Marquis. "Under that of the League," said Matta, 
"when the Guises brought the Lansquenets into France; 
but what the devil does that signify ? " 

The Marquis was tolerably warm, and naturally sav- 
age, so that God knows how the conversation would 
have ended, if the Chevalier de Grammont had not tin- 



78 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

expectedly come in to appease them. It was some time 
before he could find out what their debate was ; for the 
one had forgotten the questions, and the other the 
answers, which had disobliged him, in order to reproach 
the Chevalier with his eternal passion for play, which 
made him always uncertain. The Chevalier, who knew 
that he was still more culpable than they thought, bore 
it all with patience, and condemned himself more than 
they desired : this appeased them ; and the entertain- 
ment ended with greater tranquility than it had begun. 
The conversation was again reduced to order ; but he 
could not enliven it as he usually did. He was in very 
ill humor, and as he pressed them every minute to rise 
from the table, the Marquis was of opinion that he had 
lost a great deal. Matta said, on the contrary, that he 
had won ; but for want of precautions had made perhaps, 
an unfortunate retreat ; and asked him if he had not 
stood in need of Serjeant La Place, with his ambus- 
cade. 

This piece of history was beyond the comprehension 
of the Marquis, and being afraid that Matta might ex- 
plain it, the Chevalier changed the discourse, and was 
for rising from the table : but Matta would not consent 
to it. This effected a reconciliation between him and the 
Marquis, who thought this was a piece of civility intended 
for him ; however it was not for him, but for his wine to 
which Matta had taken a prodigious liking. 

The Duchess, who knew the character of the Marquis, 
was charmed with the account which the Chevalier de 
Grammont gave her of the entertainment and conversa- 
tion : she sent for Matta to know the truth of it from 
himself: he confessed, that before the Allobroges were 
mentioned the Marquis was for quarrelling with him, 
because he was not in love with his wife. 

Their acquaintance having begun in this manner, all 
the esteem which the Marquis had formerly expressed 
for the Chevalier seemed now directed towards Matta : he 



I 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 79 

went every day to pay Matta a visit, and Matta was every 
day with his wife. This did not at all suit the Cheva- 
lier : he repented of his having chid Matta, whose assi- 
duity now interrupted all his schemes; and the Marchion- 
ess was still more embarrassed. Whatever wit a man 
may have, it will never please where his company is 
disliked ; and she repented that she had been formerly 
guilty of some trifling advances towards him. 

Matta began to find charms in her person, and might 
have found the same in her conversation, if she had been 
inclined to display them ; but it is impossible to be in 
good humor with persons who thwart our designs. 
While his passion increased, the Chevalier de Gram- 
mont was solely occupied in endeavoring to find out 
some method, by which he might accomplish his 
intrigue ; and this was the stratagem which he put into 
execution to clear the coast, by removing, at one and 
the same time, both the lover and the husband. 

He told Matta, that they ought to invite the Marquis 
to supper at their lodgings, and he would take upon him- 
self to provide everything proper for the occasion. 
Matta desired to know if it was to play at quinze, and 
assured him that he should take care to render abortive 
any intention he might have to engage in play, and 
leave him alone with the greatest blockhead in all 
Europe. The Chevalier de Grammont did not entertain 
any such thought, being persuaded that it would be im- 
possible to take advantage of any such opportunity, in 
whatever manner he might take his measures ; and that 
they would seek for him in every corner of the city 
rather than allow him the least repose : his whole atten- 
tion was therefore employed in rendering the entertain- 
ment agreeable, in finding out means of prolonging it, in 
order ultimately to kindle some dispute between the 
Marquis and Matta. For this purpose he put himself in 
the best humor in the world, and the wine produced the 
same effect on the rest of the company. 



80 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

The Chevalier de Grammont expressed his concern 
that he had not been able to give the Marquis a little 
concert, as he had intended in the morning; for the 
musicians had been all pre-engaged. Upon this the 
Marquis undertook to have them at his country-house 
the following evening, and invited the same company 
to sup with him there. Matta asked what the devil 
they wanted with music, and maintained that it was of 
no use on such occasions but for women who had some- 
thing to say to their lovers, while the fiddles prevented 
them from being overheard, or for fools who had nothing 
to say when the music ended. They ridiculed all his 
arguments : the party was fixed for the next day, and 
the music was voted by the majority of voices. The 
Marquis, to console Matta, as well as to do honor to the 
entertainment, toasted a great many healths : Matta was 
more ready to listen to his arguments on this topic than 
in a dispute ; but the Chevalier, perceiving that a little 
would irritate them, desired nothing more earnestly 
than to see them engaged in some new controversy. It 
was in vain that he had from time to time started some 
subject of discourse with this intention ; but having 
luckily thought of asking what was his lady's maiden 
name, Senantes, who was a great genealogist, as all 
fools are who have good memories, immediately began 
by tracing out her family, by an endless, confused string 
of lineage. The Chevalier seemed to listen to him with 
great attention ; and perceiving that Matta was almost 
out of patience, he desired him to attend to what the 
Marquis was saying, for that nothing could be more 
entertaining. ' ' All this may be very true, ' ' said Matta ; 
' ' but for my part, I must confess, if I were married, I 
should rather choose to inform myself who was the real 
father of my children, than who were my wife's grand- 
fathers." The Marquis, smiling at this rudeness, did 
not leave off until he had traced back the ancestors of 
his spouse, from line to line, as far as Yolande de Se- 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 81 

•nantes : after this he offered to prove, in less than half 
an hour, that the Grammonts came originally from 
Spain. "Very well," said Matta, "and pray what 
does it signify to us from whence the Grammonts are 
descended ? Do not you know, sir, that it is better to 
know nothing at all, than to know too much ? " 

The Marquis maintained the contrary with great 
warmth, and was preparing a formal argument to prove 
that an ignorant man is a fool ; but the Chevalier de 
Grammont, who was thoroughly acquainted with Matta, 
saw very clearly that he would send the logician to the 
devil before he should arrive at the conclusion of his 
syllogism : for which reason, interposing as soon as they 
began to raise their voices, he told them it was ridic- 
ulous to quarrel about an affair in itself so trivial, and 
treated the matter in a serious light, that it might 
make the greater impression. Thus supper terminated 
peaceably, owing to the care he took to suppress all 
•disputes, and to substitute plenty of wine in their stead. 

The next day Matta went to the chase, the Chevalier 
«de Grammont to the bagnio, and the Marquis to his 
^country house. While the latter was making the neces- 
sary preparations for his guests, not forgetting the 
music, and Matta pursuing his game to get an appe- 
tite, the Chevalier was meditating on the execution of 
"his project. 

As soon as he had regulated his plan of operations in 
his own mind, he privately sent anonymous intel- 
ligence to the officer of the guard at the palace that 
the Marquis de Senantes had had some words with 
Monsieur de Matta the preceding night at supper ; that 
the one had gone out in the morning, and the other 
.could not be found in the city. 

Madame Royale, alarmed at this advice, immediately 
sent for the Chevalier de Grammont : he appeared sur- 
prised when her highness mentioned the affair : he con- 
fessed, indeed, that some high words had passed between 
6 



82 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

them, but that he did not believe either of them would, 
have remembered them the next day. He said that if 
no mischief had yet taken place, ' the best way would 
be to secure them both until the morning, and that if 
they could be found, he would undertake to reconcile 
them, and to obliterate all grievances : in this there was 
no great difficulty. On inquiry at the Marquis's they 
were informed that he was gone to his country-house : 
there certainly he was, and there they found him ; the 
officer put him under an arrest, without assigning any 
reason for so doing, and left him in very great surprise. 
Immediately upon Matta's return from hunting, her 
Royal Highness sent the same officer to desire him to 
give her his word that he would not stir out that even- 
ing. This compliment very much surprised him, more 
particularly as no reason was assigned for it. He was 
expected at a good entertainment, he was dying with 
hunger, and nothing appeared to him more unreasonable 
than to oblige him to stay at home, in a situation like 
the present ; but he had given his word, and not know- 
ing to what this might tend, his only resource was to 
send for his friend ; but his friend did not come to him 
until his return from the country. He had there found 
the Marquis in the midst of his fiddlers, and very much 
vexed to find himself a prisoner in his own house on ac- 
count of Matta, whom he was waiting for in order to 
feast him : he complained of him bitterly to the Cheva- 
lier de Grammont : he said that he did not believe that 
he had offended him ; but that, since he was very desir- 
ous of a quarrel, he desired the Chevalier to acquaint 
him, if he felt the least displeasure on the present occa- 
sion, he should, on the very first opportunity, receive 
what is called satisfaction. The Chevalier de Grammont 
assured him that no such thought had ever entered the 
mind of Matta ; that on the contrary, he knew that he 
very greatly esteemed him ; that all this could alone 
arise from the extreme tenderness of his lady, who, being 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 83 

alarmed upon the report: of the servants who waited at 
table, must have gone to her Royal Highness, in order 
to prevent any unpleasant consequences ; that he thought 
this the more probable, as he had often told the Mar- 
chioness, when speaking of Matta, that he was the best 
swordsman in France. 

The Marquis, being a little pacified, said he was very 
much obliged to him, that he would severely chide his 
wife for her unseasonable tenderness, and that he was 
extremely desirous of again enjoying the pleasure of his 
dear friend Matta' s company. 

The Chevalier de Grammont assured him that he 
would use all his endeavors for that purpose, and at the 
same time gave strict charge to his guard not to let him 
escape without orders from the Court, as he seemed fully 
bent upon fighting, and they would be responsible for 
him : there was no occasion to say more to have him 
strictly watched, though there was no necessity for it. 

One being thus safely lodged, his next step was to 
secure the other : he returned immediately to town : and 
as soon as Matta saw him, "What the devil," said he, 
"is the meaning of this farce which I am obliged to act? 
for my part, I cannot understand the foolish customs of 
this country ; how comes it that they make me a prisoner 
upon my parole? " " How comes it?" said the Cheva- 
lier de Grammont, "it is because you yourself are far 
more unaccountable than all their customs ; you cannot 
help disputing with a peevish fellow, whom you ought 
only to laugh at ; some officious footman has no doubt 
been talking of your last night's dispute ; you were seen 
to go out of town in the morning, and the Marquis soon 
after ; was not this sufficient to make her Royal High- 
ness think herself obliged to take these precautions? 
The Marquis is in custody ; they have only required your 
parole ; so far, therefore, from taking the affair in the 
sense you do, I should send very humbly to thank her 
Highness for the kindness she has manifested towards 



84 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

you in putting you under arrest, since it is only on your 
account that she interests herself in the affair. ' ' 

Matta charged him not to fail to express to- her Royal 
Highness the grateful sense he had of her favor, though 
in truth he as little feared the Marquis as he loved him ; 
and it is impossible to express the degree of his fortitude 
in stronger terms. 

As soon as the Chevalier de Grammont perceived that 
everything coincided with his wishes, and that towards 
the end of the entertainment the toasts went merrily 
round, he knew he was sure of his man till next day : 
then taking him aside with the permission of the com- 
pany, and making use of a false confidence in order to 
disguise a real treachery, he acquainted him, after hav- 
ing sworn him several times to secrecy, that he had at 
last prevailed upon the little Saint Germain to grant him 
an interview that night ; for which reason he would take 
his leave, under pretence of going to play at Court ; he 
therefore desired him fully to satisfy the company that 
he would not have left them on any other account, as 
the Piedmontese are naturally mistrustful. Matta prom- 
ised he would manage this point with discretion ; that he 
would make an apology for him, and that there was no 
occasion for his personally taking leave : then, after con- 
gratulating him upon the happy posture of his affairs, he 
sent him away with all the expedition and secrecy im- 
aginable ; so great was his fear lest his friend should 
lose the present opportunity. 

Matta then returned to the company, much pleased 
with the confidence which had been placed in him, and 
with the share he had in the success of this adventure. 

It was late at night before the company broke up, and 
Matta went to bed, very well satisfied with what he had 
done for his friend ; and, if we may credit appearances, 
this friend enjoyed the fruit of his perfidy. The amorous 
Marchioness received him like one who wished to en- 
hance the value of the favor she bestowed ; her charms 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 85 

were far from being neglected ; and if there are any cir- 
cumstances in which we may detest the traitor while we 
profit by the treason, this was not one of them ; and how- 
ever successful the Chevalier de Grammont was in his 
intrigues, it was not owing to him that the contrary was 
not believed ; but, be that as it may, being convinced 
that in love whatever is gained by address is gained fairly, 
it does not appear that he ever showed the smallest de- 
gree of repentance for this trick. But it is now time 
for us to take him from the court of Savoy, to see him 
shine in that of France. 




ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 




CHAPTER V. 

The Chevalier de Gramrhont, upon his return to 
France, sustained, with the greatest success, the reputa- 
tion he had acquired abroad : alert in play, active and 
vigilant in love ; sometimes successful, and always feared, 
in his intrigues ; in war alike prepared for the events of 
good or ill fortune ; possessing an inexhaustible fund of 
pleasantry in the former, and full of expedients and dex- 
terity in the latter. 

Zealously attached to the Prince de Conde * from in- 



* Louis of Bourbon, Duke d'Enghien, afterwards, by the death of his 
father in 1656, Prince de Conde. Of this great man Cardinal de Retz 
says : " He was born a general, which never happened but to Caesar, to 
Spinola, and to himself. He has equalled the first : he has surpassed 
the second. Intrepidity is one of the least shining strokes in his char- 
acter. Nature had formed him with a mind as great as his courage. 
Fortune, in setting him out in a time of wars, has given this last a full 
extent to work in : his birth, or rather his education, in a family de- 
voted and enslaved to the court, has kept the first within too strait 
bounds. He was not taught time enough the great and general maxims 
which alone are able to form men to think always consistently. He 
never had time to learn them of himself, because he was prevented 
from his youth, by the great affairs that fell unexpectedly to his share, 
and by the continual success he met with. This defect in him was the 
cause, that with the soul in the world the least inclined to evil, he has 
(86) 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 87 

clination, he was a witness, and, if we may be allowed 
to say it, his companion, in the glory he had acquired at 
the celebrated battles of Lens, Norlinguen, and Fri- 
bourg ; * and the details he so frequently gave of them 
were far from diminishing their lustre. 

So long as he had only some scruples of conscience, 
and a thousand interests to sacrifice, he quitted all to 
follow a man, whom strong motives and resentments, 
which in some manner appeared excusable, had with- 
drawn from the paths of rectitude : he adhered to him in 
his first disgrace, with a constancy of which there are 
few examples ; but he could not submit to the injuries 
which he afterwards received, and which such an in- 
violable attachment so little merited. Therefore, with- 
out fearing any reproach for a conduct which sufficiently 



committed injuries ; that with the heart of an Alexander, he has, like 
him, had his failings; that with a wonderful understanding, he has 
acted imprudently ; that having all the qualities which the Duke 
Francis of Guise had, he has not served the state in some occasions so 
well as he ought ; and that having likewise all the qualities of the 
Duke Henry of Guise, he has not carried faction so far as he might. 
He could not come up to the height of his merit ; which, though it be 
a defect, must yet be owned to be very uncommon, and only to be 
found in persons of the greatest abilities." Memoirs, vol. i., p. 248, 
■edit. 1723. He retired from the army, soon after the death of Turenne, 
to Chantilly, "from whence," says Voltaire, "he very rarely came to 
Versailles, to behold his glory eclipsed in a place where the courtier 
never regards anything but favor. He passed the remainder of his 
days, tormented with the gout, relieving the severity of his pains, and 
employing the leisure of his retreat in the conversation of men of 
genius of all kinds, with which France then abounded. He was worthy 
of their conversation ; as he was not unacquainted with any of those 
arts and sciences in which they shone. He continued to be admired 
even in his retreat ; but at last that devouring fire, which, in his youth, 
had made him a hero, impetuous, and full of passions, having consumed 
the strength of his body, which was naturally rather agile than robust, 
he declined before his time ; and the strength of his mind decaying 
with that of his body, there remained nothing of the great Conde 
during the last two years of his life. He died in 1686." Age of Louis 
XIV., chap. 11. He was aged 66 years. 

* These were fought in the years 1648, 1645, and 1644. 



88 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

justified itself, as he had formerly deviated from his 
duty by entering into the service of the Prince de Conde, 
he thought he had a right to leave him to return again, 
to his duty. 

His peace was soon made at Court, where many, far 
more culpable than himself, were immediately received 
in favor, when they desired it ; for the queen,* still ter- 
rified at the dangers into which the civil wars hadi 
plunged the State at the commencement of her regency, 
endeavored by lenient measures to conciliate the minds; 
of the people. The policy of the minister f was neither 

* Anne of Austria, daughter of Philip III. of Spain, widow of Louis. 
XIII., to whom she was married in 1615, and mother of Louis XIV. 
She died in 1666. Cardinal de Retz speaks of her in the following 
terms: "The queen had more than anybody whom I ever knew, of 
(that sort of wit which was necessary for her not to appear a fool to. 
j those that did not know her. She had in her more of harshness than 
j haughtiness ; more of haughtiness than of greatness ; more of outward 
appearance than reality ; more regard to money than liberality ; more- 
of liberality than of self-interest ; more of self-interest than disinterest- 
edness : she was more tied to persons by habit than by affection ; she 
had more of insensibility than of cruelty ; she had a better memory for 
injuries than for benefits ; her intention towards piety was greater than, 
her piety ; she had in her more of obstinacy than of firmness ; and. 
more incapacity than of all the rest which I mentioned before." Me- 
moirs, vol. i., p. 247. 

f Cardinal Mazarin, who, during a few of the latter years of his life, 
governed France. He died at Vincennes the 9th of March, 1661, aged 
59 years, leaving as heir to his name and property the Marquis de la, 
Meilleray, who married his niece, and took the title of Duke of Mazarin. 
On his death, Louis XIV. and the court appeared in mourning, an. 
honor not common, though Henry IV. had shown it to the memory of 
Gabfielle d'Bstrees. Voltaire, who appears unwilling to ascribe much, 
ability to the cardinal, takes an opportunity, on occasion of his death,, 
to make the following observation : " We cannot refrain from combat- 
ing the opinion, which supposes prodigious abilities, and a genius- 
almost divine, in those who have governed empires with some degree 
of success. It is not a superior penetration that makes statesmen ; it 
is their character. All men, how inconsiderable soever their share of 
sense may be, see their own interest nearly alike. A citizen of Bern 
or Amsterdam, in this respect, is equal to Sejanus, Ximenes, Bucking- 
ham, Richelieu, or Mazarin ; but our conduct and our enterprises de- 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 89 

sanguinary nor revengeful : his favorite maxim was 
rather to appease the minds of the discontented by lenity 
than to have recourse to violent measures ; to be content 
with losing nothing by the war, without being at the 
expense of gaining any advantage from the enemy : to 
suffer his character to be very severely handled, provided 
he could amass much wealth, and to spin out the minor- 
ity to the greatest possible extent. 

His avidity to heap up riches was not alone confined 
to the thousand different means, with which he was fur- 
nished by his authority, and the situation in which he 
was placed: his whole pursuit was gain: he was naturally 
fond of gaming ; but he only played to enrich himself, 
and therefore, whenever he found an opportunity, he 
cheated. 

As he found the Chevalier de Grammont possessed a 
great deal of wit, and a great deal of money, he was a 
man according to his wishes, and soon became one of his 
set. The Chevalier soon perceived the artfulness and 
dishonesty of the Cardinal, and thought it was allowable 
in him to put in practice those talents which he had 
received from nature, not only in his own defence, but 
even to attack him whenever an opportunity offered. This 
would certainly be the place to mention these particulars; 
but who can describe them with such ease and elegance 
as may be expected by those who have heard his own 
relation of them ? Vain is the attempt to endeavor to 
transcribe these entertaining anecdotes : their spirit 
seems to evaporate upon paper ; and in whatever light 
they are exposed the delicacy of. their coloring and their 
beauty is lost. 

It is, then, enough to say, that upon all occasions 
where address was reciprocally employed, the Chevalier 
gained the advantage ; and that if he paid his court badly 



pend absolutely on our natural dispositions, and our success depends 
upon fortune." Age of Louis XIV., chap. 5. 



90 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

to the minister, he had the consolation to find, that those 
who suffered themselves to be cheated, in the end gained 
no great advantage from their complaisance ; for thec- 
al ways continued in an abject submission, while the 
Chevalier de Grammont, on a thousand different occa- 
sions, never put himself under the least restraint. Of 
which the following is one instance: 

The Spanish army, commanded by the Prince de 
Conde and the archduke,* besieged Arras. The Court 
was advanced as far as Peronne.f The enemy, by the 
capture of this place, would have procured a reputation 
for their army of which they were in great need ; as the 
French, for a considerable time past, had evinced a supe- 
riority in every engagement. 

The Prince supported a tottering party, as far as their 
usual inactivity and irresolution permitted him ; but as 
in the events of war it is necessary to act independently 
on some occasions, which, if once suffered to escape, can 
never be retrieved ; for want of this power it frequently 
happened that his great abilities were of no avail. The 
Spanish infantry had never recovered itself since the bat- 
tle of Rocroy ; J and he who had ruined them by that 
victory, by fighting against them, was the only man 
who now, by commanding their army, was capable of 
repairing the mischief he had done them. But the jeal- 
ousy of the generals, and the distrust attendant upon 
their counsels, tied up his hands. 

Nevertheless, the siege of Arras § was vigorously 

* Leopold, brother of the Emperor Ferdinand III. 

t A little but strong town, standing among marshes on the river 
Somme, in Picardy. 

i This famous battle was fought and won 19th May, 1643, fi ye days 
after the death of Eouis XIII. 

§ Voltaire observes, that it was the fortune of Turenne and Conde to 
be always victorious when they fought at the head of the French, and 
to be vanquished when they commanded the Spaniards. This was 
Conde's fate before Arras, August 25, 1654, when he and the archduke 
besieged that city. Turenne attacked them in their camp, and forced 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 91 

carried on. The Cardinal was very sensible how dis- 
honorable it would be to suffer this place to be taken 
under his nose, and almost in sight of the king. On the 
other hand, it was very hazardous to attempt its relief, 
the Prince de Conde being a man who never neglected 
the smallest precaution for the security of his lines ; and 
if lines are attacked and not forced, the greatest danger 
threatens the assailants. For, the more furious the 
assault, the greater is the disorder in the retreat ; and no 
man in the world knew so well as the Prince de Conde 
how to make the best use of an advantage. The army, 
commanded by Monsieur de Turenne, was considerably 
weaker than that of the enemy ; it was, likewise, the 
only resource they had to depend upon. If this army 
was defeated, the loss of Arras was not the only misfor- 
tune to be dreaded. 

The Cardinal, whose genius was happily adapted to 
such junctures, where deceitful negotiations could extri- 
cate him out of difficulties, was filled with terror at the 
sight of imminent danger, or of a decisive event : he was 
of opinion to lay siege to some other place, the capture 
of which might prove an indemnification for the loss of 
Arras ; but Monsieur de Turenne, who was altogether of 
a different opinion from the Cardinal, resolved to march 
towards the enemy, and did not acquaint him with his 
intentions until he was upon his march. The courier 
arrived in the midst of his distress, and redoubled 
his apprehensions and alarms ; but there was then no 
remedy. 



their lines : the troops of the archduke were cut to pieces ; and Conde, 
with two regiments of French and Lorrainers, alone sustained the efforts 
of Turenne's army ; and, while the archduke was flying, he defeated the 
Marshal de Hoquincourt, repulsed the Marshal de la Ferte, and retreated 
victoriously himself, by covering the retreat of the vanquished Span- 
iards. The king of Spain, in his letter to him after this engagement, 
had these words : "I have been informed that everything was lost, and 
that you have recovered everything." 



92 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

The Marshal, whose great reputation had gained him 
the confidence of the troops, had determined upon his 
measures before an express order from the Court could 
prevent him. This was one of those occasions in which 
the difficulties you encounter heighten the glory of suc- 
cess. Though the general's capacity, in some measure, 
afforded comfort to the Court, they nevertheless were 
upon the eve of an event, which in one way or other 
must terminate both their hopes and their fears : while 
the rest of the courtiers were giving various opinions 
concerning the issue, the Chevalier de Grammont deter- 
mined to be an eye-witness of it ; a resolution which 
greatly surprised the Court ; for those who had seen as 
many actions as he had, seemed to be exempted from such 
eagerness ; but it was in vain that his friends opposed 
his resolutions. 

The king was pleased with his intention ; and the 
queen appeared no less satisfied. He assured her that he 
would bring her good news ; and she promised to embrace 
him, if he was as good as his word. The Cardinal 
made the same promise : to the latter, however, he 
did not pay much attention ; yet he believed it sincere,, 
because the keeping of it would cost him nothing. 

He set out in the dusk of the evening with Caseau, 
whom Monsieur de Turenne had sent express to their 
majesties. The Duke of York,* and the Marquis 
d'Humieres,t commanded under the Marshal : the latter 
was upon duty when the Chevalier arrived, it being 
scarce daylight. The Duke of York did not at first rec- 



* Priorato, in his Memoirs of Cardinal Mazarin, mentions other 
Englishmen besides the Duke of York being present ; as Lords Gerrard, 
Barclay, and Jermyn, with others. Memoirs, i2mo, 1673, tome i., part 

3. P- 365- 

t Louis de Crevans, Marechal of France. He died 1694. Voltaire says 
of him, that he was the first who, at the siege of Arras, in 1658, was 
served in silver in the trenches, and had ragouts and entremets served 
up to his table. 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 93 

ollect him ; but the Marquis d'Humieres, running to 
him with open arms, " I thought," said he, "if any man 
came from court to pay us a visit upon such an occasion 
as this, it would be the Chevalier de Grammont Well, ' ' 
continued he, ' ' what are they doing at Peronne ? ' ' 
"They are in great consternation, " replied the Chevalier. 
"And what do they think of us?" "They think," 
said he, "that if you beat the Prince, you will do no 
more than your duty ; if you are beaten, they will think 
you fools and madmen, thus to have risked everything, 
without considering the consequences. " " Truly, ' ' said 
the Marquis, ' ' you bring us very comfortable news. 
Will you now go to Monsieur de Turenne's quarters, to 
acquaint him with it ; or will you choose rather to repose 
yourself in mine ? for you have been riding post all last 
night, and perhaps did not experience much rest in the 
preceding." "Where have you heard that the Chevalier 
de Grammont had ever any occasion for sleep?" replied 
he: "Only order me a horse, that I may have the honor 
to attend the Duke of York ; for, most likely, he is not 
in the field so early, except to visit some posts. ' ' 

The advanced guard was only at cannon-shot from 
that of the enemy. As soon as they arrived there, ' ' I 
should like," said the Chevalier de.Grammont, "to ad- 
vance as far as the sentry which is posted on that emi- 
nence : I have some friends and acquaintance in their 
army, whom I should wish to inquire after : I hope the 
Duke of York will give me permission." At these 
words he advanced. The sentry, seeing him come for- 
ward directly to his post, stood upon his guard : the 
Chevalier stopped as soon as he was within shot of him. 
The sentry answered the sign which was made to him, 
and made another to the officer, who had begun to ad- 
vance as soon as he had seen the Chevalier come forward, 
and was soon up with him ; but seeing the Chevalier de 
Grammont alone, he made no difficulty to let him ap- 
proach. He desired leave of this officer to inquire after 



94 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

some relations he had in their army, and at the same 
time asked if the Duke d* Arscot was at the siege. ' ' Sir, ' ' 
said he, "there he is, just alighted under those trees, 
which you see on the left of our grand guard : it is 
hardly a minute since he was here with the Prince 
d'Aremberg, his brother, the Baron de Limbec, and 
Louvigny. " " May I see them upon parole ? ' ' said the 
Chevalier. ' ' Sir, ' ' said he, " if I were allowed to quit 
my post, I would do myself the honor of accompanying 
you thither ; but I will send to acquaint them that the 
Chevalier de Grammont desires to speak to them : ' ' and, 
after having despatched one of his guard towards them, 
he returned. " Sir," said the Chevalier de Grammont, 
' ' may I take the liberty to inquire how I came to be 
known to you ? " u Is it possible," said the other, "that 
the Chevalier de Grammont should forget La Motte, 
who had the honor to serve so long in his regiment? " 
' ' What ! is it you, my good friend, La Motte ? Truly, 
I was to blame for not remembering you, though you 
are in a dress very different from that which I first saw 
you in at Bruxelles, when you taught the Duchess 
of Guise to dance the triolets : and I am afraid your 
affairs are not in so flourishing a condition as they were 
the campaign after. I had given you the company you 
mention." They were talking in this manner, when 
the Duke d' Arscot, followed by the gentlemen above 
mentioned, came up on full gallop. The Chevalier de 
Grammont was saluted by the whole company before he 
could say a word. Soon after arrived an immense num- 
ber of others of his acquaintance, with many people, out 
of curiosity, on both sides, who, seeing him upon the 
eminence, assembled together with the greatest eager- 
ness ; so that the two armies, without design, without 
truce, and without fraud, were going to join in conver- 
sation, if, by chance, Monsieur de Turenne had not per- 
ceived it at a distance. The sight surprised him : he 
hastened that way ; and the Marquis d'Humieres ac- 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 95 

quainted him with the arrival of the Chevalier de Gram- 
mont, who wished to speak to the sentry before he went 
to the head-quarters : he added, that he could not com- 
prehend how the devil he had managed to assemble both 
armies around him, for it was hardly a minute since he 
had left him. "Truly," said Monsieur de Turenne, 
"he is a very extraordinary man ; but it is only reason- 
able that he should let us now have a little of his com- 
pany, since he has paid his first visit to the enemy." 
At these words he despatched an aide-de-camp, to recall 
the officers of his army, and to acquaint the Chevalier 
de Grammont with his impatience to see him. 

This order arrived at the same time, with one of the 
same nature, to the enemy's officers. The Prince de 
Conde, being informed of this peaceable interview, was 
not the least surprised at it, when he heard that it was 
occasioned by the arrival of the Chevalier de Grammont. 
He only gave Xussan orders to recall the officers, and to 
desire the Chevalier to meet him at the same place the 
next day ; which the Chevalier promised to do, provided 
Monsieur de Turenne should approve of it, as he made 
no doubt he would. 

His reception in the king's army was equally agree- 
able as that which he had experienced from the enemy. 
Monsieur de Turenne esteemed him no less for his frank- 
ness than for the poignancy of his wit : he took it very 
kindly that he was the only courtier who came to see 
him in a time so critical as the present : the questions 
which he asked him about the court were not so much 
for information, as to divert himself with his manner of 
relating their different apprehensions and alarms. The 
Chevalier de Grammont advised him to beat the enemy, 
if he did not choose to be answerable for an enterprise 
which he had undertaken without consulting the Car- 
dinal. Monsieur de Turenne promised him he would 
exert himself to the utmost to follow his advice, and 
assured him, that if he succeeded, he would make the 



96 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

queen keep her word with him ; and concluded with 
saying, that he was not sorry the Prince de Conde had 
expressed a desire to see him. His measures were taken 
for an attack upon the lines : on this subject he dis- 
coursed in private with the Chevalier de Grammont, and 
concealed nothing from him except the time of execu- 
tion : but this was all to no purpose ; for the Chevalier 
had seen too much, not to judge, from his own knowl- 
edge, and the observations he had made, that from the 
situation of the army, the attack could be no longer de- 
ferred. 

He set out the next day for his rendezvous, attended 
by a trumpet, and found the Prince at the place which 
Monsieur de Lussan had described to him the evening 
before. As soon as he alighted : "Is it possible," said 
the Prince, embracing him, "that this can be the Cheva- 
lier de Grammont, and that I should see him in the 
contrary party?" "It is you, my lord, whom I see 
there," replied the Chevalier, "and I refer it to your- 
self, whether it was the fault of the Chevalier de Gram- 
mont, or your own, that we now embrace different inter- 
ests." " I must confess," said the Prince, " that if there 
are some who have abandoned nie like base, ungrateful 
wretches, you have left me, as I left myself, like a man 
of honor, who thinks himself in the right : but let us 
forget all cause of resentment, and tell me what was 
your motive for coming here, you, whom I thought at 
Peronne with the court?" "Must I tell you?" said 
he: "why, faith then, I came to save your life. I 
knew that you cannot help being in the midst of the 
enemy in a day of battle ; it is only necessary for your 
horse to be shot under you, and to be taken in arms, to 
meet with the same treatment from this Cardinal as your 
uncle Montmorency * did from the other. I come, 



* Henry, Duke of Montmorency, who was taken prisoner first Sep- 
tember, 1692, and had his head struck off at Toulouse in the month of 
November following. 




y/^O-c^'^ay, ^uM 



-yocorf^ejj 



■Yrr // > / , 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 97 

therefore, to hold a horse in readiness for you in case of 
a similar misfortune, that you may not lose your head." 
"It is not the first time," said the Prince, smiling, 
"that you have rendered me this service, though the 
being taken prisoner at that time could not have been 
so dangerous to me as now. ' ' 

From this conversation they passed to more entertain- 
ing subjects. The Prince asked him many questions 
concerning the court, the ladies, play, and about his 
amours ; and returning insensibly to the present situa- 
tion of affairs, the Chevalier having inquired after some 
officers of his acquaintance, who had remained with him, 
the Prince told him that if he chose he might go to the 
lines, where he would have an opportunity not only of 
seeing those whom he inquired after, but likewise the 
•disposition of the quarters and entrenchments. To this 
he consented, and the Prince having shown him all the 
works and attended him back to their rendezvous, 
"Well, Chevalier," said he, "when do you think we 
■shall see you again ? " " Faith," replied he, "you have 
-used me so handsomely, that I shall conceal nothing 
from you. Hold yourself in readiness an hour before 
■daybreak ; for, you may depend upon it, we shall attack 
you to-morrow morning. I would not have acquainted 
you with this, perhaps, had I been entrusted with the 
secret, but, nevertheless, in the present case you may 
believe me." "You are still the same man," said the 
Prince, again embracing him. The Chevalier returned 
to Monsieur de Turenne's camp towards night ; every 
preparation was then making for the attack of the lines, 
.and it was no longer a secret among the troops. 

"Well, Monsieur le Chevalier, were they all very glad 
to see you?" said Monsieur de Turenne ; "the Prince, 
no doubt, received you with the greatest kindness, and 
asked a great number of questions ? " " He has shown 
me all the civility imaginable," replied the Chevalier ; 
"" and, to convince me he did not take me for a spy, he 



98 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

led me round the lines and entrenchments, and showed 
me the preparations he had made for your reception. ' ' 
"And what is his opinion? " said the Marshal. " He is 
persuaded that you will attack him to-night, or to-mor- 
row by daybreak ; for you great captains," continued 
the Chevalier, "see through each other's designs in a 
wonderful manner." 

Monsieur de Turenne, with pleasure, received this 
commendation from a man who was not indiscriminately 
accustomed to bestow praise. He communicated to hini 
the disposition of the attack ; and at the same time 
acquainted him that he was very happy that a man who 
had seen so many actions was to be present at this ; and 
that he esteemed it no small advantage to have the ben- 
efit of his advice, but as he believed that the remaining 
part of the night would be hardly sufficient for his re- 
pose, after having passed the former without any refresh- 
ment, he consigned him to the Marquis d'Humieres, 
who provided him with a supper and a lodging. 

The next day the lines of Arras were attacked, wherein 
Monsieur de Turenne, being victorious, added additional 
lustre to his former glory ; and the Prince de Conde, 
though vanquished, lost nothing of his former reputa- 
tion. 

There are so many accounts of this celebrated battle, 
that to mention it here would be altogether superfluous. 
The Chevalier de Grammont, who, as a volunteer, was 
permitted to go into every part, has given a better de- 
scription of it than any other person. Monsieur de 
Turenne reaped great advantage from that activity which 
never forsook the Chevalier either in peace or war ; and 
that presence of mind which enabled him to carry 
orders, as coming from the general, so very apropos, 
that Monsieur de Turenne, otherwise very particular 
in such matters, thanked him, when the battle was 
over, in the presence of all his officers, and despatched 
him to court with the first news of his success. 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 99 

All that is generally necessary in these expeditions is 
to be accustomed to hard riding, and to be well provided 
with fresh horses, but he had a great many other ob- 
stacles to surmount. In the first place, the parties of the 
enemy were dispersed over all the country, and ob- 
structed his passage. Then he had to prepare against 
greedy and officious courtiers, who, on such occasions, 
post themselves in all the avenues, in order to cheat 
the poor courier out of his news. However, his ad- 
dress preserved him from the one, and deceived the 
others. 

He had taken eight or ten troopers, commanded by 
an officer of his acquaintance, to escort him half way to 
Bapaume, * being persuaded that the greatest danger 
would lie between the camp and the first stage. He had 
not proceeded a league before he was convinced of the 
truth of what he suspected, and turning to the officer, 
who followed him closely, ' ' If you are not well mounted, ' ' 
said he, "I would advise you to return to the camp ; for 
my part, I shall set spurs to my horse, and make the 
best of my way." "Sir," said the officer, "I hope I 
shall be able to keep you company, at whatever rate you 
go, until you are out of all danger." "I doubt that," 
replied the Chevalier, ' ' for those gentlemen there seem 
prepared to pay us a visit." " Don't you see," said the 
officer, ' ' they are some of our own people who are graz- 
ing their horses ? " "No," said the Chevalier ; "but I 
see very well that they are some of the enemy's troop- 
ers." Upon which, observing to him that they were 
mounting, he ordered the horsemen that escorted him to 
prepare themselves to make a diversion, and he himself 
set off full speed towards Bapaume. 

He was mounted upon a very swift English horse ; 

* A fortified town in Artois, seated in a barren country, without rivers 
or springs, and having an old palace, which gave rise to the town, with 
a particular governor of its own, a royal and forest court. In 1641 the 
French took it from the Spaniards. 



100 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

but having entangled himself in a hollow way where the 
ground was deep and miry, he soon had the troopers at 
his heels, who, supposing him to be some officer of rank, 
would not be deceived, but continued to pursue him, 
without paying any attention to the others. The best 
mounted of the party began to draw near him ; for the 
English horses, swift as the wind on even ground, pro- 
ceeded but very indifferently in bad roads ; the trooper 
presented his carbine, and cried out to him, at some 
distance, "Good quarter." The Chevalier de Gram- 
mont, who perceived that they gained upon him, and 
that whatever efforts his horse made in such heavy 
ground, he must be overtaken at last, immediately 
quitted the road to Bapaume, and took a causeway to the 
left, which led quite a different way ; as soon as he had 
gained it, he drew up, as if to hear the proposal of the 
trooper, which afforded his horse an opportunity of 
recovering himself; while his enemy, mistaking his 
intention, and thinking that he only waited to surrender, 
immediately exerted every effort, that he might take 
him before the rest of his companions, who were follow- 
ing, could arrive, and by this means almost killed his 
horse. 

One minute's reflection made the Chevalier consider 
what a disagreeable adventure it would be, thus coming 
from so glorious a victory, and the dangers of a battle so 
warmly disputed, to be taken by a set of scoundrels who 
had not been in it, and, instead of being received in tri- 
umph, and embraced by a great queen for the important 
news with which he was charged, to see himself stripped 
by the vanquished. 

During this short meditation, the trooper who followed 
him was arrived within shot, and still presenting his 
carbine, offered him good quarter, but the Chevalier de 
Grammont, to whom this offer, and the manner in which 
it was made, were equally displeasing, made a sign to 
him to lower his piece ; and perceiving his horse to be 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 101 

in wind, he lowered his hand, rode off like lightning, and 
left the trooper in such astonishment that he even forgot 
to fire at him. 

As soon as he arrived at Bapaume he changed horses ; 
the commander of this place showed him the greatest 
respect, assuring him that no person had yet passed ; 
that he would keep the secret, and that he would retain 
all that followed him, except the couriers of Monsieur 
de Turenne. 

He now had only to guard against those who would be 
watching for him about the environs of Peronne, to re- 
turn as soon as they saw him, and carry his news to 
court, without being acquainted with any of the partic- 
ulars. He knew very well that Marshal du Plessis, 
Marshal de Villeroy, and Gaboury, had boasted of this 
to the Cardinal before his departure. Wherefore, to 
elude this snare, he hired two well-mounted horsemen 
at Bapaume, and as soon as he had got a league from 
that place, and after giving them each two louis d'ors, 
to secure their fidelity, he ordered them to ride on before, 
to appear very much terrified, and to tell all those who 
should ask them any questions, " that all was lost, that 
the Chevalier de Grammont had stopped at Bapaume, 
having no great inclination to be the messenger of ill 
news ; and that as for themselves, they had been pursued 
by the enemy's troopers, who were spread over the whole 
country since the defeat. ' ' 

Everything succeeded to his wish : the horsemen were 
intercepted by Gaboury, whose eagerness had outstripped 
the two marshals ; but whatever questions were asked 
them, they acted their parts so well, that Peronne was 
already in consternation, and rumors of the defeat were 
whispered among the courtiers, when the Chevalier de 
Grammont arrived. 

Nothing so enhances the value of good news as when 
a false alarm of bad has preceded ; yet, though the 
Chevalier's was accompanied with this advantage, none 



102 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

but their Majesties received it with that transport of joy 
it deserved. 

The queen kept her promise to him in the most fasci- 
nating manner : she embraced him before the whole 
court ; the king appeared no less delighted ; but the 
Cardinal, whether with the view of lessening the merit 
of an action which deserved a handsome reward, or 
whether it was from a return of that insolence which 
always accompanied him in prosperity, appeared at first 
not to pay any attention to what he said, and being after- 
wards informed that the lines had been forced, that the 
Spanish army was beaten, and that Arras was relieved : 
' ' Is the Prince de Conde taken ? ' ' said he. ' ' No, ' ' re- 
plied the Chevalier de Grammont. " He is dead, then, 
I suppose?" said the Cardinal. "Not so, neither," 
answered the Chevalier. "Fine news indeed !" said the 
Cardinal, with an air of contempt ; and at these words 
he went into the queen's cabinet with their majesties. 
And happy it was for the Chevalier that he did so, for 
without doubt he would have given him some severe 
reply, * in resentment for those two fine questions, and 
the conclusion he had drawn from them. 

The court was filled with the Cardinal's spies : the 
Chevalier, as is usual on such an occasion, was sur- 
rounded by a crowd of courtiers and inquisitive people, 
and he was very glad to ease himself of some part of the 
load which laid heavy on his heart, within the hearing 
of the Cardinal's creatures, and which he would perhaps 
have told him to his face. "Faith, gentlemen," said 
he, with a sneer, "there is nothing like being zealous 



* This spirit seems not always to have attended him in his transac- 
tions with the Cardinal. On the occasion of the entry of the king in 
1660, " L,e Chevalier de Grammont, Rouville, Bellefonds, and some 
other courtiers, attended in the Cardinal's suite, a degree of flattery 
which astonished everybody who knew him. I was informed that the 
Chevalier wore a very rich orange-colored dress on that occasion." 
Lettres de Maintenon, tome i., p. 32. 




v . 



.'//// vz2cce&n> &>/t/'iin-(.i. /^www/w^' //" ' (•/'/,:;/, ;/ ■' . 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 103 

and eager in the service of kings and great princes : you 
have seen what a gracious reception his Majesty has 
given me ; you are likewise witnesses in what an oblig- 
ing manner the queen kept her promise with me ; but 
as for the Cardinal, he has received my news as if he 
gained no more by it than he did by the death of Peter 
Mazarin. ' ' * 

This was sufficient to terrify all those who were sin- 
cerely attached to him ; and the best established fortune 
would have been ruined at some period by a jest much 
less severe : for it was delivered in the presence of wit- 
nesses, who were only desirous of having an opportunity 
of representing it in its utmost malignancy, to make a 
merit of their vigilance with a powerful and absolute 
minister. Of this the Chevalier de Grammont was 
thoroughly convinced ; yet whatever detriment he fore- 
saw might arise from it, he could not help being much 
pleased with what he had said. 

The spies very faithfully discharged their duty : how- 
ever, the affair took a very different turn from what they 
expected. The next day, when the Chevalier de Gram- 
mont was present while their Majesties were at dinner, 
the Cardinal came in, and coming up to him, everybody 
making way for him out of respect : " Chevalier," said 
he, "the news which you have brought is very good, 
their Majesties are very well satisfied with it ; and to 
convince you it is more advantageous to me than the 
death of Peter Mazarin, if you will come and dine with 
me we will have some play together ; for the queen will 
give us something to play for, over and above her first 
promise. ' ' 

In this manner did the Chevalier de Grammont dare 
to provoke a powerful minister, and this was all the re- 



* Peter Mazarin was father to the Cardinal. He was a native of 
Palermo in Sicily, which place he left in order to settle at Rome, where 
he died in the year 1654. 



104 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMOMT. 

sentment which the least vindictive of all statesmen 
expressed on the occasion. It was indeed very unusual 
for so young a man to reverence the authority of minis- 
ters no farther than as they were themselves respectable 
by their merit ; for this, his own breast, as well as the 
whole court, applauded him, and he enjoyed the satisfac- 
tion of being the only man who durst preserve the least 
shadow of liberty in a general state of servitude ; but it 
was perhaps owing to the Cardinal's passing over this 
insult with impunity, that he afterwards drew upon him- 
self some difficulties, by other rash expressions less for- 
tunate in the event. 

In the meantime the court returned : the Cardinal, 
who was sensible that he could no longer keep his mas- 
ter in a state of tutelage, being himself worn out with 
cares and sickness, and having amassed treasures he- 
knew not what to do with, and being sufficiently loaded 
with the weight of public odium, he turned all his; 
thoughts towards terminating, in a manner the most 
advantageous for France, a ministry which had so cru- 
elly shaken that kingdom. Thus, while he was-, 
earnestly laying the foundations of a peace so ardently 
wished for, pleasure and plenty began to reign at court. 

The Chevalier de Grammont experienced for a long 
time a variety of fortune in love and gaming : he was es- 
teemed by the courtiers, beloved by beauties whom he 
neglected, and a dangerous favorite of those whom he- 
admired; more successful in play than in his amours; but 
the one indemnifying him for want of success in the 
other, he was always full of life and spirits; and in all 
transactions of importance, always a man of honor. 

It is a pity that we must be forced here to interrupt the 
course of his history, by an interval of some years, as has 
been already done at the commencement of these me- 
moirs. In a life where the most minute circumstances 
are always singular and diverting, we can meet with no 
chasm which does not afford regret; but whether he did : 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 105 

not think them worthy of holding a place among his 
other adventures, or that he has only preserved a con- 
fused idea of them, we must pass to the parts of 
these fragments which are better ascertained, that we 
may arrive at the subject of his journey to England. 

The peace of the Pyrenees,* the king's marriage, f the 
return of the Prince de Conde,| and the death of the Car- 
dinal, gave a new face to the state. The eyes of the 
whole nation were fixed upon Louis XIV., who, for 
nobleness of mien, and gracefulness of person, had no 
equal ; but it was not then known that he was possessed 
of those superior abilities, which, filling his subjects 
with admiration, in the end made him so formidable to 
Europe. IyOve and ambition, the invisible springs of the 
intrigues and cabals of all courts, attentively observed 
his first steps : pleasure promised herself an absolute em- 
pire over a prince who had been kept in ignorance of the 
necessary rules of government, and ambition had no 
hopes of reigning in the court except in the minds of 
those who were able to dispute the management of affairs ; 
when men were surprised to see the king on a sudden 
display such brilliant abilities, which prudence, in some 
measure necessary, had so long obliged him to conceal. 

An application, inimical to the pleasures which gener- 
erally attract that age, and which unlimited power very 
seldom refuses, attached him solely to the cares of gov- 
ernment: all admired this wonderful change, but all did 
not find their account in it: the great lost their conse- 
quence before an absolute master, and the courtiers ap- 
proached with reverential awe the sole object of their 
respects and the sole master of their fortunes: those who 

* This treaty was concluded 7th November, 1659. 

f L,ouis XIV. with Maria Theresa of Austria. She was born 20th 
September, 1638, married 1st June, 1660, and entered Paris 26th August 
following. She died at Versailles, 30th July, 1683, and was buried at 
St. Denis. 

t nth April. — See De Retz's Memoirs, vol. iii., p. 119. 



106 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

had conducted themselves like petty tyrants in the prov- 
inces, and on the frontiers, were now no more than gov- 
ernors : favors, according to the king's pleasure, were 
sometimes conferred on merit, and sometimes for services 
done the state; but to importune, or to menace the court, 
was no longer the method to obtain them. 

The Chevalier de Grammont regarded his master's at- 
tention to the affairs of state as a prodigy : he could not 
conceive how he could submit at his age to the rules he 
prescribed himself, or that he should give up so many 
hours of pleasure, to devote them to the tiresome duties 
and laborious functions of government ; but he blessed 
the Lord that henceforward no more homage was to be 
paid, no more court to be made, but to him alone, to 
whom they were justly due. Disdaining as he did the 
servile adoration usually paid to a minister, he could 
never crouch before the power of the two Cardinals who 
succeeded each other: he neither worshipped the arbitrary 
power of the one, nor gave his approbation to the artifices 
of the other ; he had never received anything from Car- 
dinal Richelieu but an abbey, which, on account of his 
rank, could not be refused him ; and he never acquired 
anything from Mazarin but what he won of him at play. 

By many years experience under an able general he 
had acquired a talent for war; but this during a general 
peace was of no further service to him. He therefore 
thought that, in the midst of a court flourishing in 
beauties and abounding in wealth, he could not employ 
himself better than in endeavoring to gain the good opin- 
ion of his master, in making the best use of those advan- 
tages which nature had given him for play, and in 
putting in practice new stratagems in love. 

He succeeded very well in the first two of these proj- 
ects, and as he had from that time laid it down as the 
rule of his conduct to attach himself solely to the king in 
all his views of preferment, to have no regard for favor 
unless when it was supported by merit, to make himself 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 107 

beloved by the courtiers and feared by the minister, to 
dare to undertake anything in order to do good, and to 
engage in nothing at the expense of innocence, he soon 
became one in all the king's parties of pleasure, without 
gaining the ill will of the courtiers. In play he was suc- 
cessful, in love unfortunate; or, to speak more properly, 
his restlessness and jealousy overcame his natural pru- 
dence, in a situation wherein he had most occasion for 
it. La Motte Ageucourt was one of the maids of honor 
to the queen dowager, and, though no sparkling beauty, 
she had drawn away lovers from the celebrated Mene- 
ville.* It was sufficient in those days for the king to 
cast his eye upon a young lady of the court to inspire her 
with hopes, and often with tender sentiments; but if he 
spoke to her more than once, the courtiers took it for 
granted, and those who had either pretensions to, or love 
for her, respectfully withdrew both the one and the other, 
and afterwards only paid her respect ; but the Chevalier 
de Grammont thought fit to act quite otherwise, perhaps 
to preserve a singularity of character, which upon the 
present occasion was of no avail. 

He had never before thought of her, but as soon as he 
found that she was honored with the king's attention, 
lie was of opinion that she was likewise deserving of his. 



* These two ladies at this period seem to have made a distinguished 
figure in the annals of gallantry. One of their contemporaries mentions 
them in these terms : " In this case, perhaps, I can give a better account 
than most people ; as, for instance, they had raised a report, when the 
queen-mother expelled Mademoiselle de la Motte Agencourt, that it 
-was on his score, when I am assured, upon very good grounds, that it 
was for entertaining the Marquis de Richelieu against her majesty's 
express command. This lady, who was one of her maids of honor, was 
a person whom I was particularly acquainted with ; and that so much, 
as I was supposed to have a passion for her : she was counted one of 
the finest women of the court, and therefore I was not at all displeased 
to have it thought so ; for except Mademoiselle de Meneville, (who had 
her admirers,) there was none that could pretend to dispute it." 
Memoirs of the Comte de Rochefort, 1696, p. 210. See also Anquetil, 
Louis XVI. sa Cour et le Regent, tome i., p. 46. 



108 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

Having attached himself to her, he soon became very" 
troublesome, without convincing her he was much in 
love. She grew weary of his persecutions, but he 
would not desist, neither on account of her ill-treat- 
ment nor of her threats. This conduct of his at first 
made no great noise, because she was in hopes that he 
would change his behavior; but finding him rashly per- 
sist in it, she complained of him : and then it was that 
he perceived that if love renders all conditions equal, it 
is not so between rivals. He was banished the court, 
and not finding any place in France which could console 
him for what he most regretted — the presence and sight 
of his prince — after having made some slight reflections 
upon his disgrace, and bestowed a few imprecations 
against her who was the cause of it, he at last formed the 
resolution of visiting England. 



* ' 1 



^zrv^&^.y-,- 




MRS. HYDE. 




CHAPTER VI. 



Curiosity to see a man equally famous for his crimes 
-and his elevation, had once before induced the Chevalier 
de Grammont to visit England. Reasons of state assume 
great privileges. Whatever appears advantageous is law- 
ful, and everything that is necessary is honorable in pol- 
itics. While the King of England sought the protection 
of Spain in the Low Countries, and that of the States- 
General in Holland, other powers sent splendid embassies 
to Cromwell. 

This man, whose ambition had opened him a way to 
.sovereign power by the greatest crimes, maintained him- 
self in it by accomplishments which seemed to render 
him worthy of it by their lustre. The nation, of all 
Europe the least submissive, patiently bore a yoke 
which did not even leave her the shadow of that liberty 
of which she is so jealous ; and Cromwell, master of the 
Commonwealth, under the title of Protector, feared at 
home, but yet more dreaded abroad, was at his highest 
pitch of glory when he was seen by the Chevalier de 
Grammont; but the Chevalier did not see any appearance 
of a court. One part of the nobility proscribed, the 
other removed from employments; an affectation of purity 
of manners, instead of the luxury which the pomp of 

(109) 



110 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

courts displays, all taken together, presented nothing 
but sad and serious objects in the finest city in the world ; 
and therefore the Chevalier acquired nothing by this 
-voyage but the idea of some merit in a profligate man, 
and the admiration of some concealed beauties he had 
found means to discover. 

Affairs wore quite a different appearance at his second 
voyage. The joy for the-^estoration of the royal family 
still appeared in all parts. The nation, fond of change 
and novelty, tasted the pleasure of a natural government, 
and seemed to breathe again after a long oppression. In 
short, the same peopie-wdu y by a s olemn abjuration, had 
excluded even the posterity of their lawful sovereign, 
exhausted themselves in festivals and rejoicings for his 
return. * 

The Chevalier de Grammont arrived about two years 
after the restoration. The reception he met with in this 
court soon made him forget the other ; and the engage- 
ments he in the end contracted in England lessened the 
regret he had in leaving France. 

This was a desirable retreat for an exile of his dispo- 
sition. Everything flattered his taste, and if the adven- 
tures he had in this country were not the most consider- 



* Bishop Burnet confirms this account. "With the restoration of the 
king," says he, "a spirit of extravagant joy spread over the nation, 
that brought on with it the throwing off the very professions of virtue 
and piety. All ended in entertainments and drunkenness which over- 
run the three kingdoms to such a degree, that it very much corrupted 
all their morals. Under the color of drinking the king's health, there 
were great disorders, and much riot everywhere : and the pretences of 
religion, both in those of the hypocritical sort, and of the more honest, 
but no less pernicious enthusiasts, gave great advantages, as well as they 
furnished much matter to the profane mockers of true piety." — History 
of his Own Times, vol. i., p. 127, 8vo. edit. Voltaire says, King 
Charles "was received at Dover by twenty thousand of his subjects, 
who fell upon their knees before him ; and I have been told by 
some old men who were of this number, that hardly any of those 
who were present could refrain from tears." Age of Louis XIV., 
chap. 5. 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. Ill 

able, they were at least the most agreeable of his life. 
But before we relate them it will not be improper to 
give some account of the English court as it was at that 
period. 

The necessity of affairs had exposed Charles II. from 
his earliest youth to the toils and perils of a bloody 
war. The fate of the king, his father, had left him for 
inheritance nothing but his misfortunes and disgraces. 
They overtook him everywhere ; but it was not until 
he had struggled with his ill-fortune to the last ex- 
tremity that he submitted to the decrees of Providence. 

All those who were either great on account of their 
birth or their loyalty had followed him into exile ; and 
all the young persons of the greatest distinction having 
afterwards joined him, composed a court worthy of a 
better fate. 

Plenty and prosperity, which are thought to tend only 
to corrupt manners, found nothing to spoil in an indi- 
gent and wandering court. Necessity, on the contrary, 
which produces a thousand advantages whether we will 
or no, served them for education; and nothing was to be 
seen among them but an emulation in glory, politeness, 
and virtue. 

With this little court, in such high esteem for merit, 
the King of England returned two years prior to the 
period we mention, to ascend a throne which, to all ap- 
pearances, he was to fill as worthily as the most glorious 
of his predecessors. The magnificence displayed on this 
occasion was renewed at his coronation. * 

The death of the Duke of Gloucester, f and of the 



* There is some reason to believe that the Count de Grammont, 
whose circumstances at his first arrival at the court of Britain were 
inferior to his rank, endeavored to distinguish himself by his 
literary acquirements. A scarce little book, in Latin and French, 
upon the coronation, has been ascribed to him with some probability. 

t This event took place September 3d, 1660. He died of the small- 
pox. "Though mankind," as Mr. Macpherson observes, "are apt to 



112 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

Princess Royal,* which followed soon after, had inter- 
rupted the course of this splendor by a tedious mourning 
which they quitted at last to prepare for the reception of 
the Infanta of Portugal, f 

exaggerate the virtues of princes who happen to die in early youth, their 
praises seem to have done no more than justice to the character of 
Gloucester. He joined in himself the best qualities of both his brothers: 
the understanding and good-nature of Charles to the industry and appli- 
cation of James. The facility of the first, was in him a judicious mod- 
eration. The obstinacy of the latter, was in Gloucester a manly firmness 
of mind. Attached to the religion, and a friend to the constitution of 
his country, he was most regretted, when his family regarded these the 
least. The vulgar, who crowd with eminent virtues and great actions 
the years which fate denies to their favorites, foresaw future misfortunes 
in his death ; and even the judicious supposed that the measures of 
Charles might have derived solidity from his judgment and promising 
parts. The king lamented his death with all the vehemence of an af- 
fectionate sorrow. ' ' The Duke of York was much affected with the loss 
of a brother, whose high merit he much admired. " He was a prince," 
says James, " of the greatest hopes, undaunted courage, admirable parts, 
and a clear understanding." He had a particular talent at languages. 
Besides the Latin, he was master of the French, the Spanish, the Ital- 
ian, and Low Dutch. He was, in short, possessed of all the natural 
qualities, as well as acquired accomplishments, necessary to make a 
great prince. Macphersori 1 s History of Great Britain, ch. i. Bishop 
Burnet's character of this young prince is also very favorable. See 
History of his Own Times, vol. i., p. 238. 

•"" Mary, eldest daughter of Charles L, born November 4th, 1626, 
married to the Prince of Orange, 2d May, 1641, who died 27th October, 
1650. She arrived in England, September 23d, and died of the small- 
pox, December 24th, 1660, — according to Bishop Burnet, not much la- 
mented. "She had lived," says the author, "in her widowhood for 
some years with great reputation, kept a decent court, and supported 
her brothers very liberally; and lived within bounds. But her mother, 
who had the art of making herself believe anything she had a mind to, 
upon a conversation with the queen-mother of France, fancied the 
King of France might be inclined to marry her. So she wrote to her to 
come to Paris. In order to that, sht made an equipage far above what 
she could support. So she ran herself into debt, sold all her jewels, 
and some estates that were in her power as her .son's guardian; and 
was not only disappointed of that vain expectation, but fell into some 
misfortunes that lessened the reputation she had formerly lived in." 
History of his Own Times, vol. i., p. 238. She was mother of 
William III. 

t "The Infanta of Portugal landed in May (1662) at Portsmouth. 




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MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT 113 

It was in the height of the rejoicings they were 
making for this new queen, in all the splendor of a 
brilliant court, that the Chevalier de Grammont arrived 
to contribute to its magnificence and diversions. 

Accustomed as he was to the grandeur of the court 
of France, he was surprised at the politeness and 
splendor of the court of England. The king was in- 
ferior to none, * either in shape or air ; his wit was 
pleasant ; his disposition easy and affable ; his soul, 
susceptible of opposite impressions, was compassionate 
to the unhappy, inflexible to the wicked, and tender 
■even to excess ; he showed great abilities in urgent 
affairs, but was incapable of application to any that were 
not so : his heart was often the dupe, but oftener the 
;slave, of his engagements. 

The character of the Duke of Yorkf was entirely 

The king went thither, and was married privately by Lord Aubigny, a 
-secular priest, and almoner to the queen, according to the rites of Rome, 
in the queen's chamber ; none present but the Portuguese ambassador, 
three more Portuguese of quality, and two or three Portuguese women. 
What made this necessary was, that the Earl of Sandwich did not marry 
Iter by proxy, as usual, before she came away. How this happened, 
the duke knows not, nor did the chancellor know of this private mar- 
riage. The queen would not be bedded, till pronounced man and wife 
by Sheldon, bishop of London." — Extract 2, from King James IPs 
Journal. — Macpkerson's State Papers, vol. i. In the same collection is 
a curious letter from the king to Lord Clarendon, giving his opinion of 
the queen after having seen her. 

* Charles II. was born 29th May, 1630, and died 6th February, 1684-5. 
His character is very amply detailed and accurately depicted by George 
Saville, Marquis of Halifax, in a volume published by his grand- 
daughter, the Countess of Burlington, 8vo., 1750. See also Burnet, 
•Clarendon, and Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham. 

t James, Duke of York, afterwards King James II. He was born 
15th October, 1633 ; succeeded his brother 6th February, 1684-5 ; abdi- 
cated the crown in 1688 ; and died 6th September, 1701. Bishop Bur- 
net's character of him appears not very far from the truth. "He was," 
•says this writer, " very brave in his youth ; and so much magnified by 
Monsieur Tureune, that till his marriage lessened him, he really clouded 
the king, and passed for the superior genius. He was naturally can- 
•did and sincere, and a firm friend, till affairs and his religion wore out 
8 



114 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

different : he had the reputation of undaunted courage,, 
an inviolable attachment for his word, great economy 
in his affairs, hauteur, application, arrogance, each in 
their turn : a scrupulous observer of the rules of duty 
and the laws of justice ; he was accounted a faithful 
friend, and an implacable enemy. 

His morality and justice, struggling for some time with 
prejudice, had at last triumphed, by his acknowledging 
for his wife Miss Hyde, * maid of honor to the Princess 



all his first principles and inclinations. He had a great desire to un- 
derstand affairs : and in order to that he kept a constant journal of all 
that passed, of which he showed me a great deal. The Duke of Buck- 
ingham gave me once a short but severe character of the two brothers. 
It was the more severe, because it was true : the king (he said) could 
see things if he would : and the duke would see things if he could. He 
had no true judgment, and was soon determined by those whom he 
trusted : but he was obstinate against all other advices. He was bred 
with high notions of kingly authority, and laid it down for a maxim, 
that all who opposed the king were rebels in their hearts. He was 
perpetually in one amour or other, without being very nice in his 
choice : upon which the king once said, he believed his brother had 
his mistresses given him by his priests for penance. He was naturally 
eager and revengeful : and was against the taking off any that set up 
in an opposition to the measures of the court, and who by that means 
grew popular in the house of commons. He was for rougher methods. 
He continued many years dissembling his religion, and seemed zealous 
for the church of England, but it was chiefly on design to hinder all 
propositions that tended to unite us among ourselves. He was a 
frugal prince, and brought his court into method and magnificence, 
for he had ^100,000 a-year allowed him. He was made high admiral, 
and he came to understand all the concerns of the sea very par- 
ticularly." 

* Miss Anne Hyde, eldest daughter of Lord Chancellor Clarendon. 
King James mentions this marriage in these terms : " The king at first 
refused the Duke of York's marriage with Miss Hyde. Many of the 
duke's friends and servants opposed it. The king at last consented, 
and the Duke of York privately married her, and soon after owned the 
marriage. Her want of birth was made up by endowments ; and her 
carriage afterwards became her acquired dignity." Again. "When 
his sister, the princess royal, came to Paris to see the queen-mother, 
the Duke of York fell in love with Mrs. Anne Hyde, one of her maids 
of honor. Besides her person, she had all the qualities proper to in- 
flame a heart less apt to take fire than his ; which she managed so well 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. H5 

Royal whom he had secretly married in Holland. Her 
father,* from that time prime minister of England sun 

S a b ir, r inte - est - soon rose to & to 

atfcurs, and had almost ruined them : not that he wanted 
capacity, but he was too self-sufficient. 
_J^f_Duk^of^ondt possessed the confidence and 

to marry none but her 7^ J I au S " restorati <» n . •>* resolved 

when the duke a" M tte tC h't ", '° d ° it: Md '"o^. at first, 
and dissuaded htafronaltyefat'LtTe ^ ""* * K '™ d ' 

duke married her privatS/o^Vdl Z^ZV^Z' "* °" 
after a true friend tn tV>o „u n ,- er > and was ever 

cv , ^ ena to the chancellor for several vears " M„^u 

State Papers vol i ^ n era* \ ears. —lUacpherson's 

ed^manSt'sX^ernXr 55 ^^ ^ 
aeter, at this distance of Z. * " na,Ure His char- 

tered. Desiln „^r blmlo ^ " °" gbt '° be partially con- 
abuse upon him ?he S uC l,n r P °r e ? eaped u »™*™j«t 
Uve were at least the lldeT nT'thf™ ,' ^^ ° fprm ^ 
a work that defied their mal hav , h "™erons , smit with 

sessedmrnosteve;;^::;;! ;;: r Th;c a h„rm d a g ke s -r t h he pos - 

venerable. He died in exile, in the year 1674 CharaCto 

^M^m^aal °T° nd ' b ° rn ' 9th ° ctober - ' 6 '°> and died 

serves [hat " L - , ? are " don ' "> the Continuation of bis Life ^ 

made wit/h m andth eu S T^\ °' ^ wWch ^ *-d 

his vast estate if hlwould T I ° ffered - who wou ^ have given him 
of his own hou es w X ut f,?, C ° ntented t0 Hve **** in som e 

and transporteThi^elf wi ho ," ^"T^ himSelf in the ^™~ 
authority in a mtle wtalT ! mUCh aS aCC6pti ^ a P ass from ^ 

W whom he ^JltZln T ?""? ^ * ^ the *»* 
Having thus merited IT ? 2 h e returned with him into England. 

had much morTcredft ! , " * SUbJeCt Ca " d ° from a P ri 4 ^ 

^~£Hh?-~— **:="=; 

— a^rce, .^^TH^^i 



116 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

esteem of his master : the greatness of his services, the 
splendor of his merit and his birth, and the fortune he 
had abandoned in adhering to the fate of his prince, 
rendered him worthy of it : nor durst the courtiers even 
murmur at seeing him grand steward of the household, 
first lord of the bed-chamber, and lord-lieutenant of Ire- 
land. He exactly resembled the Marshal de Grammont, 
in the turn of his wit and the nobleness of his manners, 
and like him was the honor of his master's court. 

The Duke of Buckingham * and the Karl of St. Al- 
bans f were the same in England as they appeared in 

great expence ; decent even in his vices, for he always kept up the form 
of religion. He had gone through many transactions in Ireland with 
more fidelity than success. He had made a treaty with the Irish, 
which was broken by the great body of them, though some few of them 
adhered still to him. But the whole Irish nation did still pretend, 
that though they had broke the agreement first, yet he, or rather the 
king, in whose name he had treated with them, was bound to perform 
all the articles of the treaty. He had miscarried so in the siege of 
Dublin, that it very much lessened the opinion of his military con- 
duct. Yet his constant attendance on his master, his easiness to him, 
and his great suffering for him, raised him to be lord-steward of the 
household, and lord-lieutenant of Ireland. He was firm to the Prot- 
estant religion, and so far firm to the laws, that he always gave good 
advices ; but when bad ones were followed, he was not for com- 
plaining too much of them." — History of his Own Times, vol. i., 
p. 230. 

* ' ' The Duke of Buckingham is again one hundred and forty thou- 
sand pounds in debt ; and by this prorogation his creditors have time 
to tear all his lands to pieces." — Andrew MarvelVs Works, 4±o. edit, 
vol. i., p. 406. 

t Henry Jermyn, Earl of St. Albans, and Baron of St. Edmond's 
Bury. He was master of the horse to Queen Henrietta, and one of the 
privy-council to Charles II. In July, 1660, he was sent ambassador to 
the court of France, and, in 1671, was made lord-chamberlain of his 
majesty's household. He died January 2, 1683. Sir John Reresby as- 
serts that Lord St. Albans was married to Queen Henrietta. "The 
abbess of an English college in Paris, whither the queen used tc retire, 
would tell me," says Sir John, "that Lord Jermyn, since St. Albans, 
had the queen greatly in awe of him ; and indeed it was obvious that 
he had great interest with her concerns ; but that he was married to 
her, or had children by her, as some have reported, I did not then be- 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 117 

France : the one full of wit and vivacity, dissipated, 
without splendor, an immense estate upon which he had 
just entered : the other, a man of no great genius, had 
raised himself a considerable fortune from nothing-, and 
by losing at play, and keeping a great table, made it 
appear greater than it was. 

Sir George Berkeley,* afterwards Earl of Falmouth, 
was the confidant and favorite of the king : he com- 
manded the Duke of York's regiment of guards, and 
governed the duke himself. He had nothing very re- 
markable either in his wit or his person ; but his senti- 
ments were worthy of the fortune which awaited him, 
when, on the very point of his elevation, he Was killed 
at sea. Never did disinterestedness so perfectly char- 
acterise the greatness of the soul : he had no views but 
what tended to the glory of his master : his credit was 
never employed but in advising him to reward services, 
or to confer favors on merit : so polished in conversa- 
tion, that the greater his power, the greater was his hu- 
mility ; and so sincere in all his proceedings, that he 
would never have been taken for a courtier. 



lieve, though the thing was certainly so." — Memoirs, p. 4. Madame 
Baviere. in her letter, says : "Charles the First's widow made a clan- 
destine marriage with her chevalier d'honneur, Lord St. Albans, who 
treated her extremely ill, so that, whilst she had not a fagot to warm 
herself, he had in his apartment a good fire and a sumptuous table. 
He never gave the queen a kind word, and when she spoke to him he 
used to say, Que me veut cettefemme ? " Hamilton hints at his selfish- 
ness a little lower. 

* This Sir George Berkeley, as he is here improperly called, was 
Charles Berkley, second son of Sir Berkley, of Bruton, in Glou- 
cestershire, and was the principal favorite and companion of the Duke 
of York in all his campaigns. He was created Baron Berkley of Rath- 
down, and Viscount Fitzharding of Ireland, and Baron Bottetort and 
Farl of Falmouth in England, 17th March, 1664. He had the address 
to secure himself in the affections equally of the king and his brother 
at the same time. Lord Clarendon, who seems to have conceived, and 
with reason, a prejudice against him, calls him "a fellow of great 
wickedness," and says, "he was one in whom few other men (except 
the king) had ever observed any virtue or quality, which they did not 
wish their best friends without." 



118 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

The Duke of Ormond's sons and his nephews had been 
in the king's court during his exile, and were far from 
diminishing its lustre after his return. The Earl of 
Arran * had a singular address in all kinds of exercises, 
played well at tennis and on the guitar, and was pretty 
successful in gallantry : his elder brother, the Earl of 
Ossory,f was not so lively, but of the most liberal senti- 
ments, and of great probity. 

The elder of the Hamiltons, their cousin, was the 
man who of all the court dressed best : he was well 
made in his person, and possessed those happy talents 
which lead to fortune, and procure success in love : he 
was a most assiduous courtier, had the most lively wit, 
the most polished manners, and the most punctual at- 
tention to his master imaginable : no person danced 
better, nor was any one a more general lover : a merit 
of some account in a court entirely devoted to love and 
gallantry. It is not at all surprising, that with these 



* Richard Butler, Earl of Arran, fifth son of James Butler, the first 
Duke of Ormond. He was born 15th July, 1639, and educated with 
great care, being taught everything suitable to his birth, and the great 
affection his parents had for him. 

f Thomas, Earl of Ossory, eldest son of the first, and father of the 
last Duke of Ormond, was born at Kilkenny, 8th July, 1634. At the 
age of twenty-one years he had so much distinguished himself that Sir 
Robert Southwell then drew the following character of him : " He is a 
young man with a very handsome face ; a good head of hair ; well set ; 
very good natured ; rides the great horse very well ; is a very good 
tennis-player, fencer and dancer ; understands music, and plays on the 
guitar and lute ; speaks French elegantly ; reads Italian fluently ; is a 
good historian ; and so well versed in romances that if a gallery be full 
of pictures and hangings he will tell the stories of all that are there 
described. He shuts up his door at eight o'clock in the evening and 
studies till midnight : he is temperate, courteous, and excellent in all 
his behavior." His death was occasioned by a fever, 30th July, 1680, 
to the grief of his family and the public. Lord Ossory married in 1659 
Emile de Nassau, eldest daughter of Louis de Nassau, Lord Bever- 
waert, in Holland, the acknowledged but not legitimate son of Maurice, 
Prince of Orange. A sister of this lady married Lord Arlington : see 
note to Lord Arlington, infra. 







&/yyi^ciaLy, ^cH^?^edJ \o-Z ^dd^ru^f 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 119 

qualities he succeeded my Lord Falmouth in the King's 
favor ; but it is very extraordinary that he should have 
experienced the same destiny, as if this sort of war had 
been declared against merit only, and as if this sort of 
combat was fatal to none but such as had certain hopes 
of a splendid fortune. This, however, did not happen 
till some years afterwards. 

The beau Sydney, * less dangerous than he appeared 
to be, had not sufficient vivacity to support the im- 
pression which his figure made ; but little Jermyn was 
on all sides successful in his intrigues. The old Earl 
-of St. Albans, his uncle, had for a long time adopted 
him, though the youngest of all his nephews. It is 
well known what a table the good man kept at Paris, 
while the King, his master, was starving at Brussels, 
and the Queen Dowager, his mistress, f lived not over 
well in France. 



* Robert Sydney, third son of the Earl of Leicester, and brother of 
the famons Algernon Sydney, who was beheaded. 

t To what a miserable state the queen was reduced may be seen in 
the following extract from De Retz: "Four or five days before the 
king removed from Paris, I went to visit the Queen of England, whom 
I found in her daughter's chamber, who hath been since Duchess of 
Orleans. At my coming in she said : ' You see I am come to keep 
Henrietta company. The poor child could not rise to-day for want of 
a fire.' The truth is, that the cardinal for six months together had not 
ordered her any money towards her pension ; that no tradespeople 
would trust her for anything ; and that there was not at her lodgings 
in the Louvre one single billet. You will do me the justice to suppose 
that the Princess of England did not keep her bed the next day for 
want of a fagot ; but it was not this which the Princess of Conde meant 
in her letter. What she spoke about was, that some days after my 
visiting the Queen of England, I remembered the condition I had found 
her in, and had strongly represented the shame of abandoning her in 
that manner, which caused the parliament to send 40,000 livres to her 
majesty. Posterity will hardly believe that a Princess of England, 
grand-daughter of Henry the Great, had wanted a fagot, in the month 
of January, to get out of bed in the Louvre, and in the eyes of a French 
court. We read in histories, with horror, of baseness less monstrous 
than this ; and the little concern I have met with about it in most 
people's minds has obliged me to make, I believe, a thousand times, 



120 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

Jermyn,* supported by his uncle's wealth, found it- 
no difficult matter to make a considerable figure upon 
his arrival at the court of the Princess of Orange : the 
poor courtiers of the king her brother could not vie 
with him in point of equipage and magnificence ; and 
these two articles often produce as much success in love- 
as real merit : there is no necessity for any other ex- 
ample than the present ; for though Jermyn was brave, 
and certainly a gentleman, yet he had neither brilliant 
actions nor distinguished rank to set him off ; and as for 
his figure, there was nothing advantageous in it. He 
was little : his head was large and his legs small ; his 
features were not disagreeable, but he was affected in his 
carriage and behavior. All his wit consisted in ex- 
pressions learnt by rote, which he occasionally em- 
ployed either in raillery or in love. This was the 



this reflection : that examples of times past move men beyond compari- 
son more than those of their own times. We accustom ourselves to> 
what we see ; and I have sometimes told you, that I doubted whether 
Caligula's horse being made a consul would have surprised us so much 
as we imagine." — Memoirs, vol. i., p. 261. As for the relative situation 
of the king and Lord Jermyn (afterwards St. Albans), Lord Clarendon- 
says, that the "Marquis of Ormond was compelled to put himself in 
prison, with other gentlemen, at a pistole a week for his diet, and to' 
walk the streets a-foot, which was no honorable custom in Paris, whilst 
the Lord Jermyn kept an excellent table for those who courted him, 
and had a coach of his own, and all other accommodations incident to 
the most full fortune : and if the king had the most urgent occasion 
for the use of but twenty pistoles, as sometimes he had, he could not find 
credit to borrow it, which he often had experiment of." — History of 
the Rebellion, vol. iii., p. 2. 

* Henry Jermyn, youngest son of Thomas, elder brother of the Earl 
of St. Albans. He was created Baron Dover in 1685, and died without 
children, at Cheveley, in Cambridgeshire, April 6, 1708. His corpse 
was carried to Bruges, in Flanders, and buried in the monastery of the 
Carmelites there. St. Evremond, who visited Mr. Jermyn at Cheveley, 
says, "we went thither, and were very kindly received by a person 
who, though he has taken his leave of the court, has carried the ci- 
vility and good taste of it into the country." — St. Evremond's Works,. 
vol. ii., p. 223. 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 121 

whole foundation of the merit of a man so formidable in 
amours. 

The Princess Royal was the first who was taken with 
him : * Miss Hyde seemed to be following the steps of 
her mistress : this immediately brought him into credit, 
and his reputation was established in England before 
his arrival. Prepossession in the minds of women is 
sufficient to find access to their hearts ; Jermyn found 
them in dispositions so favorable for him, that he had 
nothing to do but to speak. 

It was in vain they perceived that a reputation so 
lightly established was still more weakly sustained : the 
prejudice remained: the Countess of Castlemaine, f a 

* It was suspected of this princess to have had a similar engagement 
with the Duke of Buckingham as the queen with Jermyn, and that was 
the cause she would not see the Duke on his second voyage to Hol- 
land, in the year 1652. 

| This lady, who makes so distinguished a figure in the annals of 
infamy, was Barbara, daughter and heir of William Villiers, Lord Vis- 
count Grandison, of the kingdom of Ireland, who died in 1642, in con- 
sequence of wounds received at the battle of Edgehill. She was mar- 
ried, just before the restoration, to Roger Palmer, Esq., then a student 
in the Temple, and heir to a considerable fortune. In the thirteenth 
year of King Charles II. he was created Earl of Castlemaine in the 
kingdom of Ireland. She had a daughter, born in February, 1661, 
while she cohabited with her husband ; but shortly after she became 
the avowed mistress of the king, who continued his connection with 
her until about the year 1672, when she was delivered of a daughter, 
which was supposed to be Mr. Churchill's, afterwards Duke of Marl- 
borough, and which the king disavowed. Her gallantries were by no 
means confined to one or two, nor were they unknown to his majesty. 
In the year 1670 she was created Baroness of Nonsuch, in Surrey, 
Countess of Southampton, and Duchess of Cleveland, during her 
natural life, with remainder to Charles and George Fitzroy, her eldest 
and third sons, and their heirs male. In July, 1705, her husband died, 
and she soon after married a man of desperate fortune, known by the 
name of Handsome Fielding, who behaving in a manner unjustifiably 
severe towards her, she was obliged to have resource to law for her 
protection. Fortunately it was discovered that Fielding had already a 
wife living, by which means the duchess was enabled to free herself 
from his authority. She lived about two years afterwards, and died of 
a dropsy, on the 9th of October, 1709, in her 69th year. Bishop Burnet 



122 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

woman lively and discerning, followed the delusive 
shadow ; and though undeceived in a reputation which 
promised so much, and performed so little, she neverthe- 
less continued in her infatuation : she even persisted in 
it, until she was upon the point of embroiling herself 
with the King ; so great was this first instance of her 
constancy. 

Such were the heroes of the court. As for the beau- 
ties, you could not look anywhere without seeing them : 
those of the greatest reputation were this same Countess 
of Castlemaine, afterwards Duchess of Cleveland, Lady 
Chesterfield, Lady Shrewsbury, * the Mrs. Roberts, Mrs. 
Middleton, the Misses Brooks, f and a thousand others, 
who shone at court with equal lustre ; but it was Miss 
Hamilton and Miss Stewart who were its chief orna- 
ments. The new queen gave but little additional bril- 
liancy to the court, % either in her person or in her 

says : "She was a woman of great beauty, but most enormously vicious 
and ravenous ; foolish, but imperious ; very uneasy to the king, and 
always carrying on intrigues with other men, while yet she pretended 
she was jealous of him. His passion for her, and her strange behavior 
towards him, did so disorder him that often he was not master of him- 
self, nor capable of minding business, which, in so critical a time, 
required great application." — History of his Own Times, vol. i., p. 
129. 

* Anna Maria, Countess of Shrewsbury, eldest daughter of Robert 
Brudenel, Earl of Cardigan, and wife of Francis, Earl of Shrewsbury, 
who was killed in a duel by George, Duke of Buckingham, March 16, 
1667. She afterwards remarried with George Rodney Bridges, Esq., 
second son of Sir Thomas Bridges of Keynsham, in Somersetshire, 
knight, and died April 20, 1702. By her second husband she had one 
son, George Rodney Bridges, who died in 1751. This woman is said 
to have been so abandoned, as to have held, in the habit of a page, 
her gallant the duke's horse, while he fought and killed her husband ; 
after which she went to bed with him, stained with her husband's 
blood. 

t One of these ladies married Sir John Denham, and is mentioned 
hereafter. 

X Lord Clarendon confirms, in some measure, this account. "There 
was a numerous family of men and women, that were sent from Por- 
tugal, the most improper to promote that conformity in the queen that 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 123 

retinue, which was then composed of the Countess de 
Panetra, who came over with her in quality of lady of 
the bedchamber ; six frights, who called themselves 
maids of honor, and a duenna, another monster, who 
took the title of governess to those extraordinary beau- 
ties. 

Among the men were Francisco de Melo, brother to 
the Countess de Panetra ; one Taurauvedez, who called 
himself Don Pedro Francisco Correo de Silva, extremely 
handsome, but a greater fool than all the Portuguese 
put together : he was more vain of his names than of his 
person ; but the Duke of Buckingham, a still greater 
fool than he, though more addicted to raillery, gave him 
the additional name of Peter of the Wood. He was so 
enraged at this, that, after many fruitless complaints 
and ineffectual menaces, poor Pedro de Silva was obliged 
to leave England, while the happy duke kept possession 



was necessary for her condition and future happiness that could be 
chosen ; the women, for the most part, old and ugly, and proud, in- 
capable of any conversation with persons of quality and a liberal edu- 
cation : and they desired, and indeed had conspired so far to possess the 
queen themselves, that she should neither learn the English language 
nor use their habit, nor depart from the manners and fashions of her 
own country in any particulars : which resolution," they told, "would 
be for the dignity of Portugal, and would quickly induce the English 
ladies to conform to her majesty's practice. And this imagination had 
made that impression, that the tailor who had been sent into Portugal 
to make her clothes could never be admitted to see her or receive any 
employment. Nor when she came to Portsmouth, and found there 
several ladies of honor and prime quality to attend her in the places 
to which they were assigned by the king, did she receive any of them 
till the king himself came ; nor then with any grace, or the liberty 
that belonged to their places and offices. She could not be persuaded 
to be dressed out of the wardrobe that the king had sent to her, but 
would wear the clothes which she had brought, until she found that 
the king was displeased, and would be obeyed ; whereupon she con- 
formed, against the advice of her women, who continued their opinia- 
trety, without any one of them receding from their own mode, which 
exposed them the more to reproach." — Continuation of Clarendon's 
Life, p. 1 68. In a short time after their arrival in England they were 
ordered back to Portugal. 



124 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

of a Portuguese nymph more hideous than the queen's- 
maids of honor, whom he had taken from him, as well 
as two of his names. Besides these, there were six 
chaplains, four bakers, a Jew perfumer, and a certain 
officer, probably without an office, who called himself 
her highness' s barber. Katherine de Braganza was far 
from appearing with splendor in the charming court 
where she came to reign ; however, in the end she was 
pretty successful.* The Chevalier de Grammont, who 
had been long known to the royal family, and to most 
of the gentlemen of the court, had only to get acquainted 
with the ladies ; and for this he wanted no interpreter : 
they all spoke French enough to explain themselves, 
and they all understood it sufficiently to comprehend 
what he had to say to them. 

The queen's court was always very numerous ; that 
of the duchess was less so, but more select. This 
princess f had a majestic air, a pretty good shape, not 



*Lord Clarendon says, "the queen had beauty and wit enough to 
make herself agreeable to him (the king) ; and it is very certain, that, 
at their first meeting, and for some time after, the king had very good 
satisfaction in her. . . . Though she was of years enough to have had 
more experience of the world, and of as much wit as could be wished, 
and of a humor very agreeable at some seasons, yet she had been bred, 
according to the mode and discipline of her country, in a monastery, 
where she had only seen the women who attended her, and conversed 
with the religious who resided there ; and, without doubt, in her in- 
clinations, was enough disposed to have been one of that number : and 
from this restraint she was called out to be a great queen, and to a free 
conversation in a court that was to be upon the matter new formed, 
and reduced from the manners of a licentious age to the old rules and 
limits which had been observed in better times ; to which regular and 
decent conformity the present disposition of men or women was not 
enough inclined to submit, nor the king enough disposed to exact." — 
Continuation of Lord Clarendon 's Life, p. 167. After some struggle, 
she submitted to the king's licentious conduct, and from that time 
lived upon easy terms with him until his death. On the 30th March, 
1692, she left Somerset-house, her usual residence, and retired to Lis- 
bon, where she died, 31st December, 1705, N. S. 

t "The Duchess of York," says Bishop Burnet, "was a very extraor- 
dinary woman. She had great knowledge, and a lively sense of things. 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 125 

much beauty, a great deal of wit, and so just a discern- 
ment of merit, that, whoever of either sex were possessed 
of it, were sure to be distinguished by her : an air of 
o-randeur in all her actions made her be considered as if 
born to support the rank which placed her so near the 
throne. The queen dowager returned after the mar- 
riage of the princess royal, * and it was in her court that 
the two others met. 

The Chevalier de Grammont was soon liked by all 
parties : those who had not known him before were sur- 
prised to see a Frenchman of his disposition. The 



She soon understood what belonged to a princess, and took state on 
her rather too much. She wrote well, and had begun the duke's life, 
■of which she showed me a volume. It was all drawn from his journal ; 
and he intended to have employed me in carrying it on. She was bred 
in great strictness in religion, and practised secret confession. Morley 
told me he was her confessor. She began at twelve years old, and 
continued under his direction till, upon her father's disgrace, he was 
put from the court. She was generous and friendly, but was too severe 
an enemy." — History of his Oivn Times, vol. i., p. 237. She was con- 
tracted to the duke at Breda, November 24, 1659, and married at 
Worcester-house, 3d September, 1660, in the night, between eleven 
and two, by Dr. Joseph Crowther, the duke's chaplain ; the Lord Ossory 
giving her in marriage. — Kennel's Register, p. 246. She died 31st 
March, 1671, having previously acknowledged herself to be a Roman 
Catholic— See also her character by Bishop Morley.— Kennel's Regis- 
ter, p. 385, 390. 

* Queen Henrietta Maria arrived at Whitehall, 2d November, 1660, 
after nineteen years absence. She was received with acclamations ; 
and bonfires were lighted on the occasion, both in London and West- 
minster. She returned to France with her daughter, the Princess Hen- 
rietta, 2d January, 1660-61. She arrived again at Greenwich, 28th 
July, 1662, and continued to keep her court in England until July, 1665, 
when she embarked foi France, " and took so many things with her,' ; 
says Lord Clarendon, " that it was thought by many that she did not 
intend ever to return into England. Whatever her intentions at that 
time were, she never did see England again, though she lived many 
years after." — Continuation of Clarendon s Life, p. 263. She died at 
Coiombe, near Paris, in August, 1669 ; and her son, the Duke of York, 
pronounces this eulogium on her : " She excelled in all the good qual- 
ities of a good wife, of a good mother, and a good Christian." — Mac- 
phersou's Original Papers, vol. i. 



126 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

king's restoration having drawn a great number of 
foreigners from all countries to the court, the French 
were rather in disgrace ; for, instead of any persons of 
distinction having appeared among the first who came 
over, they had only seen some insignificant puppies, each 
striving to outdo the other in folly and extravagance, 
despising everything which was not like themselves, and 
thinking they introduced the bel air, by treating the 
English as strangers in their own country. 

The Chevalier de Grammont, on the contrary, was 
familiar with everybody : he gave in to their customs, 
eat of everything, and easily habituated himself to their 
manner of living, which he looked upon as neither vul- 
gar nor barbarous ; and as he showed a natural com- 
plaisance, instead of the impertinent affectation of the 
others, all the nation was charmed with a man who 
agreeably indemnified them for what they had suffered 
from the folly of the former. 

He first of all made his court to the king, and was of 
all his parties of pleasure : he played high, and lost but 
seldom : he found so little difference in the manners and 
conversation of those with whom he chiefly associated, 
that he could scarcely believe he was out of his own 
country. Everything which could agreeably engage a 
man of his disposition presented itself to his different 
humors, as if the pleasures of the court of France had 
quitted it to accompany him in his exile. 

He was every day engaged for some entertainment ; 
and those who wished to regale him in their turn were 
obliged to take their measures in time, and to invite him 
eight or ten days beforehand. These importunate civil- 
ities became tiresome in the long run ; but as they 
seemed indispensable to a man of his disposition, and as 
they were the most genteel people of the court who 
loaded him with them, he submitted with a good grace ; 
but always reserved to himself the liberty of supping at 
home. 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 127 

His supper hour depended upon play, and was indeed 
very uncertain ; but his supper was always served up 
with the greatest elegance, by the assistance of one or 
two servants, who were excellent caterers and good at- 
tendants, but understood cheating still better. 

The company, at these little entertainments, was not 
numerous, but select : the first people of the court were 
commonly of the party ; but the man, who of all others 
suited him best on these occasions, never failed to 
attend : that was the celebrated Saint Evremond, who 
with great exactness, but too great freedom, had written 
the history of the treaty of the Pyrenees : an exile like 
himself, though for very different reasons. 

Happily for them both, fortune had, some time before 
the arrival of the Chevalier de Grammont, brought Saint 
Evremond * to England, after he had had leisure to re- 
pent in Holland of the beauties of that famous satire. 

* Charles de St. Denis, Seigneur de Saint Evremond, was born at St. 
Denis le Guast, in Dower Normandy, on the ist of April, 1613. He 
was educated at Paris, with a view to the profession of the law ; but he 
early quitted that pursuit, and went into the army, where he signalized 
himself on several occasions. At the time of the Pyrenean treaty, he 
wrote a letter censuring the conduct of Cardinal Mazarin, which occa- 
sioned his being banished France. He first took refuge in Holland ; 
but, in 1662, he removed into England, where he continued, with a 
short interval, during the rest of his life. In 1675, the Duchess of 
Mazarin came to reside in England ; and with her St. Evremond passed 
much of his time. He preserved his health and cheerfulness to a very 
great age, and died 9th of September, 1703, aged ninet)*- years, five 
months, and twenty days. His biographer, Monsieur Des Maizeaux, 
describes him thus : " M. de St. Evremond had blue, lively, and spark- 
ling eyes, a large forehead, thick eyebrows, a handsome mouth, and a 
sneering physiognomy. Twenty years before his death a wen grew 
between his eyebrows, which in time increased to a considerable big- 
ness. He once designed to have it cut off, but as it was no ways 
troublesome to him, and he little regarded that kind of deformity, Dr. 
Le Fevre advised him to let it alone, lest such an operation should be 
attended with dangerous symptoms in a man of his age. He would 
often make merry with himself on account of his wen, his great 
leather cap, and gray hair, which he chose to wear rather than a 
periwig." 



128 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

The Chevalier was from that time his hero : they had 
each of them attained to all the advantages which a 
knowledge of the world, and the society of people of 
fashion, could add to the improvement of good natural 
talents. Saint Evremond, less engaged in frivolous pur- 
suits, frequently gave little lectures to the Chevalier, 
and by making observations upon the past, endeavored 
to set him right for the present, or to instruct him for 
the future. "You are now," said he, "in the most 
agreeable way of life a man of your temper could wish 
for : you are the delight of a youthful, sprightly, and 
gallant court : the king has never a party of pleasure to 
which you are not admitted. You play from morning to 
night, or, to speak more properly, from night to morn- 
ing, without knowing what it is to lose. Far from los- 
ing the money you brought hither, as you have done in 
other places, you have doubled it, trebled it, multiplied 
it almost beyond your wishes, notwithstanding the ex- 
orbitant expenses you are imperceptibly led into. This, 
without doubt, is the most desirable situation in the 
world : stop here, Chevalier, and do not ruin your affairs 
by returning to your old sins. Avoid love, by pursuing 
other pleasures : love has never been favorable to you. 
You are sensible how much gallantry has cost you ; and 
every person here is not so well acquainted with that 
matter as yourself. Play boldly : entertain the court 
with your wit : divert the king by your ingenious and 
entertaining stories ; but avoid all engagements which 
can deprive you of this merit, and make you forget you 
are a stranger and an exile in this delightful country. 

" Fortune may grow weary of befriending you at play. 
What would have become of you if your last misfortune 
had happened to you when your money had been at as 
low an ebb as I have known it ? Attend carefully then 
to this necessary deity, and renounce the other. You 
will be missed at the court of France before you grow 
weary of this ; but be that as it may, lay up a good store 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 129 

of money : when a man is rich he consoles himself for 
his banishment. I know you well, my dear Chevalier : 
if you take it into your head to seduce a lady, or to sup- 
plant a lover, your gains at play will by no means suffice 
for presents and for bribes : no, let play be as productive 
to you as it can be, you will never gain so much by it as 
you will lose by love, if you yield to it. 

' ' You are in possession of a thousand splendid qualifi- 
cations which distinguish you here : generous, benevo- 
lent, elegant, and polite ; and for your engaging wit, 
inimitable. Upon a strict examination, perhaps, all this 
would not be found literally true ; but these are brilliant 
marks ; and since it is granted that you possess them, do 
not show yourself here in any other light : for, in love, 
if your manner of paying your addresses can be so de- 
nominated, you do not in the least resemble the picture 
I have just now drawn. ' ' 

" My little philosophical monitor," said the Chevalier 
de Grammont, "you talk here as if you were the Cato of 
Normandy." "Do I say anything untrue?" replied 
Saint Evremond : " Is it not a fact, that as soon as a 
woman pleases you, your first care is to find out whether 
she has any other lover, and your second how to plague 
her ; for the gaining her affection is the last thing in your 
thoughts. You seldom engage in intrigues, but to dis- 
turb the happiness of others : a mistress who has no 
lovers would have no charms for you, and if she has, she 
would be invaluable. Do not all the places through 
which you have passed furnish me with a thousand ex- 
amples? Shall I mention your coup d^essai at Turin? 
the trick you played at Fontainebleau, where you robbed 
the Princess Palatine's courier upon the highway? and 
for what purpose was this fine exploit, but to put you in 
possession of some proofs of her affection for another, in 
order to give her uneasiness and confusion by reproaches 
and menaces, which you had no right to use ? 

'Who but yourself ever took it into his head to place 
9 



130 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

himself in ambush upon the stairs, to disturb a man in 
an intrigue, and to pull him back by the leg when he 
was half way up to his mistress's chamber? yet did not 
you use your friend, the Duke of Buckingham, in this 

manner, when he was stealing at night to , although 

you were not in the least his rival ? How many spies 
did not you send out after d' Olonne ? * How many 
tricks, frauds, and persecutions, did you not practice for 
the Countess de Fiesque, f who perhaps might have been 
constant to you, if you had not yourself forced her to be 
otherwise? But, to conclude, for the enumeration of 
your iniquities would be endless, give me leave to ask 
you how you came here ? Are we not obliged to that 
same evil genius of yours, which rashly inspired you to 
intermeddle even in the gallantries of your prince? 
Show some discretion then on this point here, I beseech 
you ; all the beauties of the court are already engaged ; 
and however docile the English may be with respect to 
their wives, they can by no means bear the inconstancy 

* Mademoiselle de la Loupe, who is mentioned in De Retz's Memoirs, 
vol. iii., p. 95. She married the Count d'Olonne, and became famous 
for her gallantries, of which the Count de Bussi speaks so much in his 
History of the Amours of the Gauls. Her maiden name was Catherine 
Henrietta d'Angennes, and she was daughter to Charles d'Angennes, 
Lord of la Loupe, Baron of Amberville, by Mary du Rajmier. There 
is a long character of her by St. Evremond, in his works, vol. i., p. 17. 
The same writer, mentioning the concern of some ladies for the death 
of the Duke of Candale, says: "But his true mistress (the Countess. 
d'Olonne) made herself famous by the excess of her affliction, and had, 
in my opinion, been happy, if she had kept it on to the last. One 
amour is creditable to a lady ; and I know not whether it be not more 
advantageous to their reputation than never to have been in love." — 
St. Evremond 1 s Works, vol. ii., p. 24. 

fThis lady seems to have been the wife of Count de Fiesque, who is 
mentioned by St. Evremond, as "fruitful in military chimeras; who, 
besides the post of lieutenant-general, which he had at Paris, obtained 
a particular commission for the beating up of the quarters, and other 
rash and sudden exploits, which may be resolved upon whilst one is 
singing the air of La Barre, or dancing a minuet." — St. Evremond 'sr 
Works, vol. i., p. 6. The count's name occurs very frequently in De 
Retz's Memoirs. 



MEMOIRS OE COUNT GRAMMONT. 131 

of their mistresses, nor patiently suffer the advantages 
of a rival : suffer them therefore to remain in tranquillity, 
and do not gain their ill-will for no purpose. 

' ' You certainly will meet with no success with such 
as are unmarried : honorable views, and good landed 
property, are required here ; and you possess as much of 
the one as the other. Every country has its customs : in 
Holland, unmarried ladies are of easy access, and of ten- 
der dispositions ; but as soon as ever they are married, 
they become like so many Lucretias : in France, the 
women are great coquettes before marriage, and still 
more so afterwards ; but here it is a miracle if a young 
lady yields to any proposal but that of matrimony : and 
I do not believe you yet so destitute of grace as to think 
of that." 

Such were Saint Evremond's lectures ; but they were 
all to no purpose : the Chevalier de Grammont only 
attended to them for his amusement ; and though he was 
sensible of the truth they contained, he paid little regard 
to them : in fact, being weary of the favors of fortune, 
he had just resolved to pursue those of love. 

Mrs. Middleton was the first whom he attacked : she 
was one of the handsomest women in town, though then 
little known at court : so much of the coquette as to dis- 
courage no one ; and so great was her desire of appear- 
ing magnificently, that she was ambitious to vie with 
those of the greatest fortunes, though unable. to support 
the expense. All this suited the Chevalier de Gram- 
mont ; therefore, without trifling away his time in use- 
less Ceremonies, he applied to her porter for admittance, 
and chose one of her lovers for his confidant. 
' This lover, who was not deficient in wit, was at that 
time a Mr. Jones, afterwards Earl of Ranelagh : * what 

* Richard, the first Earl of Ranelagh, was member of the English 
house of commons, and vice-treasurer of Ireland, 1674. He held sev- 
eral offices under King William and Queen Anne, and died 5th January, 
1711. Bishop Burnet says : "Lord Ranelagh was a young man of great 



132 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

engaged him to serve the Chevalier de Grammont was 
to traverse the designs of a most dangerous rival, and to 
relieve himself from an expense which began to lie too 
heavy upon him. In both respects the Chevalier an- 
swered his purpose. 

Immediately spies were placed, letters and presents 
flew about : he was received as well as he could wish : 
he was permitted to ogle : he was even ogled again ; 
but this was all : he found that the fair one was very 
willing to accept, but was tardy in making returns. 
This induced him, without giving up his pretensions to 
her, to seek his fortune elsewhere. 

Among the queen's maids of honor there was one 
called Warmestre : * she was a beauty very different 
from the other. Mrs. Middleton f was well made, fair, 
and delicate ; but had in her behavior and discourse 
something precise and affected. The indolent languish- 
ing airs she gave herself did not please everybody : peo- 
ple grew weary of those sentiments of delicacy, which 



parts, and as great vices : he had a pleasantness in his conversation 
that took much with the king; and had a great dexterity in business." 
— History of his Own Times, vol. i., p. 373. 

* Lord Orford observes, that there is a family of the name of War- 
minster settled at Worcester, of which five persons are interred in the 
cathedral. One of them was dean of the church, and his epitaph men- 
tions his attachment to the royal family. Miss Warminster, however, 
was probably only a fictitious name. The last Earl of Arran, who lived 
only a short time after the period these transactions are supposed to 
have happened, asserted that the maid of honor here spoken of was 
Miss Mary Kirk, sister of the Countess of Oxford, and who, three years 
after she was driven from court, married Sir Thomas Vernon, under the 
supposed character of a widow. It was not improbable she then 
assumed the name of Warminster. In the year 1669, the following is 
the list of the maids of honor to the queen :— 1. Mrs. Simona Carew. 
2. Mrs. Catherine Bainton. 3. Mrs. Henrietta Maria Price. 4. Mrs. 
Winifred Wells. The lady who had then the office of mother of the 
maids was Lady Saunderson. — See Chamberlayne 's Anglice Notitia, 
1669, p. 301. 

f Mrs. Jane Middleton, according to Mrs. Granger, was a woman of 
small fortune, but great beauty. Her portrait is in the gallery at 
Windsor. 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 133 

she endeavored to explain without understanding them 
herself; and instead of entertaining she became tire- 
some. In these attempts she gave herself so much 
trouble, that she made the company uneasy, and her 
ambition to pass for a wit, only established her the repu- 
tation of being tiresome, which lasted much longer than 
her beauty. 

Miss Warmestre was brown : she had no shape at all, 
and still less air ; but she had a very lively complexion, 
very sparkling eyes, tempting looks, which spared noth- 
ing that might engage a lover, and promised everything 
which could preserve him. In the end, it very plainly 
appeared that her consent went along with her eyes to 
the last degree of indiscretion. 

It was between these two goddesses that the inclina- 
tions of the Chevalier de Grammont stood wavering, and 
between whom his presents were divided. Perfumed 
gloves, pocket looking-glasses, elegant boxes, apricot 
paste, essences, and other small wares of love, arrived 
every week from Paris, with some new suit for himself : 
but, with regard to more solid presents, such as ear- 
rings, diamonds, brilliants, and bright guineas, all this 
was to be met with of the best sort in London, and the 
ladies were as well pleased with them as if they had been 
brought from abroad. 

Miss Stewart's * beauty began at this time to be cele- 

* Frances, Duchess of Richmond, daughter of Walter Stewart, son of 
Walter, Baron of Blantyre, and wife of Charles Stewart, Duke of Rich- 
mond and Lennox : a lady of exquisite beaut}-, if justly represented in 
a puncheon made by Roettiere, his majesty's engraver of the mint, in 
order to strike a medal of her, which exhibits the finest face that per- 
haps was ever seen. The king was supposed to be desperately in love 
with her ; and it became common discourse, that there was a design on 
foot to get him divorced from the queen, in order to marry this lad)'. 
Lord Clarendon was thought to have promoted the match with the 
Duke of Richmond, thereby to prevent the other design, which he 
imagined would hurt the king's character, embroil his affairs at present, 
and entail all the evils of a disputed succession on the nation. Whether 



134 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

brated. The Countess of Castlemaine perceived that the 
king paid attention to her ; but, instead of being alarmed 
at it, she favored, as far as she was able, this new inclina- 
tion, whether from an indiscretion common to all those 
who think themselves superior to the rest of mankind, or 
whether she designed, by this pastime, to divert the 
kind's attention from the commerce which she held with 
Jermyn. She was not satisfied with appearing without 
any degree of uneasiness at a preference which all the 
court began to remark : she even affected to make Miss 
Stewart her favorite, and invited her to all the entertain- 
ments she made for the king ; and, in confidence of her 
own charms, with the greatest indiscretion she often 
kept her to sleep. The king, who seldom neglected to 
visit the countess before she rose, seldom failed likewise 
to find Miss Stewart in bed with her. The most indif- 
ferent objects have charms in a new attachment : how- 
ever, the imprudent countess was not jealous of this 
rival's appearing with her in such a situation, being 
confident, that whenever she thought fit, she could tri- 
umph over all the advantages which these opportunities 
could afford Miss Stewart ; but she was quite mistaken. 

The Chevalier de Grammont took notice of this con- 
duct, without being able to comprehend it ; but, as he 

he actually encouraged the Duke of Richmond's marriage doth not 
appear; but it is certain that he was so strongly possessed of the 
king's inclination to a divorce, that, even after his disgrace, he was 
persuaded the Duke of Buckingham had undertaken to carry that 
matter through the parliament. It is certain too that the king con- 
sidered him as the chief promoter of Miss Stewart's marriage, and 
resented it in the highest degree. The ceremony took place privately, 
and it was publicly declared in April, 1667. From one of Sir Robert 
Southwell's dispatches, dated Lisbon, December T 2 2, 1667, it appears 
that the report of the queen's intended divorce had not then subsided 
in her native country. — History of the Revolutions of Portugal, 1740, 
p. 352. The duchess became a widow in 1672, and died October 15, 
1702. See Burnet's History, Ludlow's Memoirs, and Carte's Life of 
the Duke of Ormond. A figure in wax of this duchess is still to be 
seen in Westminster-abbey. 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 135 

was attentive to the inclinations of the king, he began 
to make his court to him, by enhancing the merit of this 
new mistress. Her figure was more showy than engag- 
ing : it was hardly possible for a woman to have less wit, 
or more beauty : all her features were fine and regular ; 
but her shape was not good : yet she was slender, straight 
enough, and taller than the generality of women : she 
was very graceful, danced well, and spoke French better 
than her mother tongue : she was well bred, and pos- 
sessed, in perfection, that air of dress which is so much 
admired, and which cannot be attained, unless it be 
taken when young, in France. While her charms were 
gaining ground iii the king's heart, the Countess of 
Castlemaine amused herself in the gratification of all her 
caprices. 

Mrs. Hyde * was one of the first of the beauties who 
were prejudiced with a blind prepossession in favor of 
Jermyn: she had just married a man whom she loved: by 
this marriage she became sister-in-law to the duchess, 
brilliant by her own native lustre, and full of pleasantry 
and wit. However, she was of opinion, that so long as 
she was not talked of on account of Jermyn, all her other 
advantages would avail nothing for her glory: it was, 
therefore, to receive this finishing stroke, that she re- 
solved to throw herself into his arms. 

She was of a middle size, had a skin of a dazzling 
whiteness, fine hands, and a foot surprisingly beautiful, 
even in England : long custom had given such a languish- 
ing tenderness to her looks, that she never opened her 
eyes but like a Chinese; and, when she ogled, one would 
have thought she was doing something else. 

* Theodosia, daughter of Arthur, Lord Capel, first wife of Henry 
Hyde, the second Earl of Clarendon. 

[There was another Mrs. Hyde— Mrs. Laurence Hyde (a brother of 
Henry Hyde) — a woman of exemplary virtue ; her husband was, on 
the death of Wilmot, created Earl of Rochester and was Lord High 
Treasurer under James II.] 



DEC 4 1891 



136 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

Jermyn accepted of her at first; but, being soon puzzled 
what to do with her, he thought it best to sacrifice her 
to Lady Castlemaine. The sacrifice was far from being 
displeasing to her; it was much to her glory to have car- 
ried off Jermyn from so many competitors ; but this was 
of no consequence in the end. 

Jacob Hall (the famous rope-dancer),* was at that 
time in vogue in London; his strength and agility 
charmed in public, even to a wish to know what he was 
in private; for he appeared, in his tumbling dress, to be 
quite of a different make, and to have limbs very differ- 
ent from the fortunate Jermyn. The tumbler did not 
deceive Lady Castlemaine' s expectations, if report may 
be believed ; and as was intimated in many a song, much 
more to the honor of the rope-dancer than of the count- 
ess; but she despised all these rumors, and only appeared 
still more handsome. 

While satire thus found employment at her cost, there 
were continual contests for the favors of another beauty, 
who was not much more niggardly in that way than her- 
self; this was the Countess of Shrewsbury. 

The Earl of Arran, who had been one of her first ad- 
mirers, was not one of the last to desert her; this beauty, 
less famous for her conquests than for the misfortunes. 

* "There was a symmetry and elegance, as well as strength and agil- 
ity, in the person of Jacob Hall, which was much admired by the 
ladies, who regarded him as a due composition of Hercules and Adonis. 
The open-hearted Duchess of Cleveland was said to have been in love 
with this rope-dancer and Goodman the player at the same time. The 
former received a salary from her grace. "—Granger, vol. ii., part 2, p. 
461. In reference to the connection between the duchess and the rope- 
dancer, Mr. Pope introduced the following lines into his "Sober Advice 
from Horace : " 

"What pushed poor E s on th' imperial whore? 

'Twas but to be where Charles had been before. 

The fatal steel unjustly was apply'd, 

When not his lust offended, but his pride : 

Too hard a penance for defeated sin, 

Himself shut out, and Jacob Hall let in." 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 137 

she occasioned, placed her greatest merits in being more 
capricious than any other. As no person could boast of 
being the only one in her favor, so no person could com- 
plain of having been ill received. 

Jermyn was displeased that she had made no advances 
to him, without considering that she had no leisure for 
it; his pride was offended; but the attempt which he 
made to take her from the rest of her lovers was very 
ill-advised. 

Thomas Howard, brother to the Earl of Carlisle,* was 
one of them; there was not a braver, nor a more genteel 
man in England; and though he was of a modest 
demeanor, and his manners appeared gentle and pacif- 
ic, no person was more spirited nor more passionate. 
Lady Shrewsbury, inconsiderately returning the first 
ogles of the invincible Jermyn, did not at all make her- 
self more agreeable to Howard ; that, however, she paid 
little attention to; yet, as she designed to keep fair with 
him, she consented to accept an entertainment which he 
had often proposed, and which she durst no longer 
refuse. A place of amusement, called Spring Garden, f 
was fixed upon for the scene of this entertainment. 

As soon as the party was settled, Jermyn was pri- 
vately informed of it. Howard had a company in the 
regiment of guards, and one of the soldiers of his 
company played pretty well on the bagpipes; this soldier 
was therefore at the entertainment. Jermyn was at the 
garden as by chance, and puffed up with his former suc- 
cesses, he trusted to his victorious air for accomplishing 

* Thomas Howard, fourth son of Sir William Howard. He married 
Mary, Duchess of Richmond, daughter of George Villiers, Duke of 
Buckingham, and died 1678.— See Madame Dunois 1 Memoirs of the 
English Court, 8vo.,i7o8. 

f This place appears, from the description of its situation in the fol- 
lowing extract, - and in some ancient plans, to have been near Charing- 
Cross, probably where houses are now built, though still retaining the 
name of gardens. Spring Garden is the scene of intrigue in many of 
our comedies of this period. 



138 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

this last enterprise; he no sooner appeared on the walks, 
than her ladyship showed herself upon the balcony. 

I know not how she stood affected to her hero ; but 
Howard did not fancy him much ; this did not prevent 
his coming up stairs upon the first sign she made to him; 
and not content with acting the petty tyrant, at an enter- 
tainment not made for himself, no sooner had he gained 
the soft looks of the fair one, than he exhausted all his 
common-place, and all his stock of low irony, in railing 
at the entertainment, and ridiculing the music. 

Howard possessed but little raillery, and still less pa- 
tience; three times was the banquet on the point of being 
stained with blood; but three times did he suppress his 
natural impetuosity, in order to satisfy his resentment 
elsewhere with greater freedom. 

Jermyn, without paying the least attention to his ill- 
humor, pursued his point, continued talking to Lady 
Shrewsbury, and did not leave her until the repast was 

ended. 

He went to bed, proud of this triumph, and was awa- 
kened next morning by a challenge. He took for his 
second Giles Rawlings, a man of intrigue and a deep 
player. Howard took Dillon, who was dexterous and 
brave, much of a gentleman, and unfortunately, an inti- 
mate friend to Rawlings. 

In this duel fortune did not side with the votaries of 
love : poor Rawlings was left stone dead ; and Jermyn, 
having received three wounds, was carried to his uncle's, 
with very little signs of life. 

While the report of this event engaged the courtiers 
according to their several interests, the Chevalier de 
Grammont was informed by Jones, his friend, his confi- 
dant, and his rival, that there was another gentleman 
very attentive to Mrs. Middleton : this was Montagu, * no 



* Ralph Montagu, second son of Edward, Lord Montagu. He took a 
very decided part in the prosecution of the popish plot, in 1678; but on 
the sacrifice of his friend, Lord Russell, he retired to Montpelier during 




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MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 139 

very dangerous rival on account of his person, but very 
much to be feared for his assiduity, the acuteness 
of his wit, and for some other talents which are of 
importance, when a man is once permitted to display 
them. 

There needed not half so much to bring into action all 
the Chevalier's vivacity, in point of competition : vexa- 
tion awakened in him whatever expedients the desire of 
revenge, malice, and experience, could suggest, for 
troubling the designs of a rival, and tormenting a mis- 
tress. His first intention was to return her 1 letters, and 
demand his presents, before he began to tease her ; but, 
rejecting this project, as too weak a revenge for the in- 
justice done him, he was upon the point of conspiring 
the destruction of poor Mrs. Middleton, when, by acci- 
dent, he met with Miss Hamilton. From this moment 
ended all his resentment against Mrs. Middleton and 
all his attachment to Miss Warmestre: no longer was he 
inconstant: no longer were his wishes fluctuating: this 
object fixed them all ; and, of all his former habits, 
none remained, except uneasiness and jealousy. 

Here his first care was to please ; but he very plainly 
saw, that to succeed, he must act quite in a different 
manner to that which he had been accustomed to. 

The family of the Hamiltons, being very numerous, 
lived in a large and commodious house, near the court: 
the Duke of Ormond's family was continually with them; 
and here persons of the greatest distinction in London 
constantly met : the Chevalier de Grammont was here 
received in a manner agreeable to his merit and quality, 
and was astonished that he had spent so much time in 



the rest of King Charles's reign. He was active at the Revolution, and 
soon after created Viscount Monthermer, and Barl of Montagu. In 
1705 he became Marquis of Monthermer, and Duke of Montagu. He 
married the widow of the Duke of Northumberland at Paris. He died 
7th March, 1709, in his 73d year. 



140 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 



other places; for, after having made this acquaintance, 
he was desirous of no other. 

All the world agreed that Miss Hamilton * was worthy 
of the most ardent and sincere affection : nobody could 
boast a nobler birth, nothing was more charming than 
her person. 

* Elizabeth, sister of the author of these Memoirs, and daughter of 
Sir George Hamilton, fourth son of James, the first Earl of Abercorn, 
by Mary, third daughter of Thomas, Viscount Thurles, eldest son of 
Walter, eleventh Earl of Ormond, and sister to James, the first Duke 
of Ormond. She married Philibert, Count of Grammont, the hero of 
these Memoirs, by whom she had two daughters. 




JACOB HAIX. 




GEEEIE e.'CG. 



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CHAPTER VII. 



The Chevalier de Grammont, never satisfied in his 
amours, was fortunate without being beloved, and be- 
came jealous without having an attachment. 

Mrs. Middleton, as we have said, was going to experi- 
ence what methods he could invent to torment, after 
having experienced his powers of pleasing. 

He went in search of her to the queen's drawing-room, 
where there was a ball ; there she was ; but fortunately 
for her, Miss Hamilton was there likewise. It had so 
happened, that of all the beautiful women at court, this 
was the lady whom he had least seen, and whom he had 
heard most commended ; this, therefore, was the first 
time that he had a close view of her, and he soon found 
that he had seen nothing at court before this instant; he 
asked her some questions, to which she replied ; as long 
as she was dancing, his eyes were fixed upon her ; and 
from this time he no longer resented Mrs. Middleton's 
conduct. Miss Hamilton was at the happy age when the 
charms of the fair sex begin to bloom ; she had the finest 
shape, the loveliest neck, and most beautiful arms in the 
world ; she was majestic and graceful in all her movements ; 
and she was the original after which all the ladies copied 

(141) 



142 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

in their taste and air of dress. Her forehead was open, 
white, and smooth ; her hair was well set, and fell with 
ease into that natural order which it is so difficult to imi- 
tate. Her complexion was possessed of a certain fresh- 
ness, not to be equalled by borrowed colors : her eyes 
were not large, but they were lively, and capable of ex- 
pressing whatever she pleased : her mouth was full of 
graces, and her contour uncommonly perfect : nor was 
her nose, which was small, delicate, and turned up, the 
.least ornament of so lovely a face. In fine, her air, her 
carriage, and the numberless graces dispersed over her 
whole person, made the Chevalier de Grammont not 
doubt but that she was possessed of every other qualifi- 
cation. Her mind was a proper companion for such a 
form: she did not endeavor to shine in conversation by 
those sprightly sallies which only puzzle ; and with still 
greater care she avoided that affected solemnity in her 
discourse, which pnxhices stupidity ; but, without any 
eagerness to talk, she just said what she ought, and no 
more. She had an admirable discernment in distin- 
guishing between solid and false wit; and far from mak- 
ing an ostentatious display of her abilities, she was 
reserved, though very just in her decisions : her senti- 
ments were always noble, and even lofty to the highest 
extent when there was occasion ; nevertheless, she was 
less prepossessed with her own merit than is usually the 
case with those who have so much. Formed, as we have 
described, she could not fail of commanding love; but so 
far was she from courting it, that she was scrupulously 
nice with respect to those whose merit might entitle 
them to form any pretensions to her. 

The more the Chevalier de Grammont was convinced 
of these truths, the more did he endeavor to please and 
engage her in his turn ; his entertaining wit, his con- 
versation, lively, easy, and always distinguished by nov- 
elty, constantly gained him attention ; but he was much 
embarrassed to find that presents, which so easily made 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMOKT. 143 

their way in his former method of courtship, were no 
longer proper in the mode which, for the future, he was 
obliged to pursue. 

He had an old valet-de-chambre, called Termes, a bold 
thief, and a still more impudent liar : he used to send 
this man from London every week, on the commissions 
we have before mentioned ; but after the disgrace of Mrs. 
Middleton, and the adventure of Miss Warmestre, Mr. 
Termes was only employed in bringing his master's 
clothes from Paris, and he did not always acquit himself 
with the greatest fidelity in that employment, as will 
appear hereafter. 

The queen was a woman of sense, and used all her en- 
deavors to please the king, by that kind, obliging be- 
havior which her affection made natural to her : she was 
particularly attentive in promoting every sort of pleasure 
and amusement, especially such as she could be present 
at herself. 

She had contrived, for this purpose, a splendid mas- 
querade, where those, whom she appointed to dance, had 
to represent different nations ; she allowed some time for 
preparation, during which we may suppose the tailors, 
the mantua-makers, and embroiderers, were not idle : nor 
were the beauties, who were to be there, less anxiously 
employed ; however, Miss Hamilton found time enough 
to invent two or three little tricks, in a conjuncture so 
favorable, for turning into ridicule the vain fools of the 
court. There were two who were very eminently such : 
the one was Lady Muskerry, * who had married her 



* Lady Margaret, only child of Ulick, fifth Earl of Clanricade, by 
Lady Anne Compton, daughter of William, Earl of Northampton. She 
was three times married :— i. To Charles, Lord Viscount Muskerry, 
who lost his life in the great sea-fight with the Dutch, 3d June, 1665. 
2. In 1676, to Robert Villiers, called Viscount Purbeck, who died in 
1685. 3. To Robert Fielding, Esq. She. died in August, 1698. Lord 
Orford, by mistake, calls her Elizabeth, daughter of the Earl of Kil- 
dare. — See Note on vol. ii., p. 210. 



144 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

cousin-german ; and the other a maid of honor to the 
Duchess, called Blague.* 

The first, whose husband most assuredly never mar- 
ried her for beauty, was made like the generality of rich 
heiresses, to whom just nature seems sparing of her 
gifts, in proportion as they are loaded with those of for- 
tune : she had the shape of a woman big with child, 
without being so ; but had a very good reason for limp- 
ing ; for, of two legs uncommonly short, one was much 
shorter than the other. A face suitable to this descrip- 
tion gave the finishing stroke to this disagreeable figure. 

Miss Blague was another species of ridicule : her shape 
was neither good nor bad : her countenance bore the ap- 
pearance of the greatest insipidity, and her complexion 
was the same all over ; with two little hollow eyes, 
adorned with white eyelashes, as long as one's finger. 
With these attractions she placed herself in ambuscade 
to surprise unwary hearts ; but she might have done so 
in vain, had it not been for the arrival of the Marquis de 
Brisacier. Heaven seemed to have made them for each 
other : he had in his person and manners every requisite 
to dazzle a creature of her character : he talked eternally, 



* It appears, by Chamberlayne' 's Anglicz Notitia, 1669, that this lady, 
or perhaps her sister, continued one of the duchess's maids of honor at 
that period. The list, at that time, was as follows : — 1. Mrs. Arabella 
Churchill. 2. Mrs. Dorothy Howard. 3. Mrs. Anne Ogle. 4. Mrs. 
Mary Blague. The mother of the maids then was Mrs. Lucy Wise. 
Miss Blague performed the part of Diana, in Crown's Calisto, acted at 
court in 1675, and was then styled late maid of honor to the queen. Lord 
Orford, however, it should be observed, calls her Henrietta Maria, daugh- 
ter of Colonel Blague. It appears she became the wife of Sir Thomas 
Yarborough, of Snaith, in Yorkshire. She was also, he says, sister of 
the wife of Sydney, Lord Godolphin. That nobleman married, accord- 
ing to Collins, in his peerage, Margaret, at that time maid of honor to 
Katherine, Queen of England, fourth daughter, and one of the co-heirs 
of Thomas Blague, Esq., groom of the bedchamber to Charles I. and 
Charles II. , colonel of a regiment of foot, and governor of Wallingford 
during the civil wars, and governor of Yarmouth and Languard Fort 
after the Restoration. 




'■}'■>. 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 145 

without saying anything, and in his dress exceeded the 
most extravagant fashions. Miss Blague believed that 
all this finery was on her account ; and the Marquis be- 
lieved that her long eyelashes had never taken aim at 
any but himself : everybody perceived their inclination 
for each other ; but they had only conversed by mute 
interpreters, when Miss Hamilton took it into her head 
to intermeddle in their affairs. 

She was willing to do everything in order, and there- 
fore began with her cousin Muskerry, on account of her 
rank. Her two darling foibles were dress and dancing. 
Magnificence of dress was intolerable with her figure ; 
and though her dancing was still more insupportable, 
she never missed a ball at court : and the queen had so 
much complaisance for the public, as always to make her 
dance ; but it was impossible to give her a part in an 
entertainment so important and splendid as this mas- 
querade : however, she was dying with impatience for 
the orders she expected. 

It was in consequence of this impatience, of which 
Miss Hamilton was informed, that she founded the de- 
sign of diverting herself at the expense of this silly 
woman. The queen sent notes to those whom she ap- 
pointed to be present, and described the manner in 
which they were to be dressed. Miss Hamilton wrote a 
note exactly in the same manner to Lady Muskerry, 
with directions for her to be dressed in the Babylonian 
fashion. 

She assembled her counsel to advise about the means 
of sending it : this cabinet was composed of one of her 
brothers and a sister, who were glad to divert themselves 
at the expense of those who deserved it. After having 
consulted some time, they at last resolved upon a mode 
of conveying it into her own hands. Lord Muskerry 
was just going out, when she received it : he was a man 
of honor, rather serious, very severe, and a mortal enemy 
to ridicule. His wife's deformity was not so intolerable 
10 



146 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

to him, as the ridiculous figure she made upon all occa- 
sions. He thought that he was safe in the present case, 
not believing that the queen would spoil her masquerade 
by naming Lady Muskerry as one of the dancers ; never- 
theless, as he was acquainted with the passion his wife 
had to expose herself in public, by her dress and danc- 
ing, he had just been advising her very seriously to con- 
tent herself with being a spectator of this entertainment, 
even though the queen should have the cruelty to engage 
her in it : he then took the liberty to show her what 
little similarity there was between her figure and that 
of persons to whom dancing and magnificence in dress 
were allowable. His sermon concluded at last, by an 
express prohibition to solicit a place at this entertain- 
ment, which they had no thoughts of giving her ; but 
far from taking his advice in good part, she imagined 
that he was the only person who had prevented the 
queen from doing her an honor she so ardently desired ; 
and as soon as he was gone out, her design was to go and 
throw herself at her Majesty's feet to demand justice. 
She was in this very disposition when she received the 
billet : three times did she kiss it ; and without regard- 
ing her husband's injunctions, she immediately got into 
her coach in order to get information of the merchants 
who traded to the L,evant, in what manner the ladies of 
quality dressed in Babylon. 

The plot laid for Miss Blague was of a different kind : 
she had such faith in her charms, and was so confident 
of their effects, that she could believe anything. Brisa- 
cier, whom she looked upon as desperately smitten, had 
wit, which he set off with common-place talk, and with 
little sonnets : he sung out of tune most methodically, 
and was continually exerting one or other of these happy 
talents : the Duke of Buckingham did all he could to 
spoil him, by the praises he bestowed both upon his 
voice and upon his wit. 

Miss Blague, who hardly understood a word of French,, 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 147 

regulated herself upon the Duke's authority, in admir- 
ing the one and the other. It was remarked, that all 
the words which he sung to her were in praise of fair 
women, and that always taking this to herself, she cast 
down her eyes in acknowledgment and consciousness. 
It was upon these observations they resolved to make a 
jest of her the first opportunity. 

Whilst these little projects were forming, the king, 
who always wished to oblige the Chevalier de Gram- 
mont, asked him if he would make one at the masquer- 
ade, on condition of being Miss Hamilton's partner? 
He did not pretend to dance sufficiently well for an 
occasion like the present ; yet he was far from refusing 
the offer : "Sire," said he, " of all the favors you have 
been pleased to show me, since my arrival, I feel this 
more sensibly than any other ; and to convince you of 
my gratitude, I promise you all the good offices in my 
power with Miss Stewart. ' ' He said this because they 
had just given her an apartment separate from the rest 
of the maids of honor, which made the courtiers begin 
to pay respect to her. The king was very well pleased 
at this pleasantry, and having thanked him for so neces- 
sary an offer: "Monsieur le Chevalier," said he, "in 
what style do you intend to dress yourself for the ball? 
I leave you the choice of all countries." "If so," said 
the Chevalier, ' ' I will dress after the French manner, in 
order to disguise myself; for they already do me the 
honor to take me for an Englishman in your city of 
London. Had it not been for this, I should have wished 
to have appeared as a Roman ; but for fear of embroiling 
myself with Prince Rupert,* who so warmly espouses 



* Grandson of James the First, whose actions during the civil wars 
are well known. He was born 19th December, 1619, and died at his 
house in Spring Gardens, November 22, 1682. Lord Clarendon says 
of him, that " he was rough and passionate, and loved not debate: 
liked what was proposed, as he liked the persons who proposed it ; and 
was so great an enemy to Digby and Colepepper, who were only pres- 



148 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

the interests of Alexander against Lord Thanet,* who 
declares himself for Csesar, I dare no longer think of 
assuming the hero : nevertheless, though I may dance 
awkwardly, yet, by observing the tune, and with a little 
alertness, I hope to come off pretty well ; besides, Miss 
Hamilton will take care that too much attention shall 
not be paid to me. As for my dress, I shall send Termes 
off to-morrow morning ; and if I do not show you at 
his return the most splendid habit you have ever seen, 
look upon mine as the most disgraced nation in your 
masquerade. ' ' 

Termes set out with ample instructions on the subject 
of his journey : and his master, redoubling his impa- 
tience on an occasion like the present, before the courier 
could be landed, began to count the minutes in expecta- 
tion of his return : thus was he employed until the very 
eve of the ball ; and that was tjie day that Miss Hamil- 
ton and her little society had fixed for the execution of 
their project. 

Martial gloves were then very much in fashion : she 
had by chance several pairs of them : she sent one to 
Miss Blague, accompanied with four yards of yellow 
riband, the palest she could find, to which she added 
this note : 

' ' You were the other day more charming than all the 
fair women in the world : you looked yesterday still 
more fair than you did the day before : if you go on, 
what will become of my heart? But it is a long time 
since that has been a prey to your pretty little young 



ent in the debates of the war with the officers, that he crossed all they 
proposed." — History of the Rebellion, vol. ii., 554. He is supposed to 
have invented the art of mezzotinto. 

* This nobleman, I believe, was John Tufton, second Earl of Thanet, 
who died 6th May, 1664. Lord Orford, however, imagines him to have 
been Nicholas Tufton, the third Earl of Thanet, his eldest son, who 
died 24th November, 1679. Both these noblemen suffered much for 
their loyalty. 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 149 

wild boar's eyes* Shall you be at the masquerade to- 
morrow ? But can there be any charms at an entertain- 
ment at which you are not present ? It does not signify : 
I shall know you in whatever disguise you may be : but 
I shall be better informed of my fate by the present I 
send you : you will wear knots of this riband in your 
hair ; and these gloves will kiss the most beautiful 
hands in the universe." 

This billet, with the present, was delivered to Miss 
Blague, with the same success as the other had been 
conveyed to Lady Muskerry. Miss Hamilton had just 
received an account of it, when the latter came to pay 
her a visit : something seemed to possess her thoughts 
very much ; when, having stayed some time, her cousin 
desired her to walk into her cabinet. As soon as they 
were there : " I desire your secrecy for what I am going 
to tell you," said Lady Muskerry. " Do not you won- 
der what strange creatures men are ? Do not trust to 
them, my dear cousin : my Lord Muskerry, who, before 
our marriage, could have passed whole days and nights 
in seeing me dance, thinks proper now to forbid me 
dancing, and says it does not become me. This is not 
all : he has so often rung in my ears the subject of 
this masquerade, that I am obliged to hide from him 
the honor the queen has done me in inviting me to it. 
However, I am surprised I am not informed who is to 
be my partner : but if you knew what a plague it is 
to find out, in this cursed town, in what manner the 
people of Babylon dress, you would pity me for what 
I have suffered since the time I have been appointed : 
besides, the cost which it puts me to is beyond all 
imagination." 

Here it was that Miss Hamilton's inclination to laugh, 

* Marcassin is French for a wild boar : the eyes of this creature being 
remarkably small and lively, from thence the French say, "Des yeux 
marcassins," to signify little, though roguish eyes; or, as we say, pigs' 
eyes. 



150 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAM MONT. 

which had increased in proportion as she endeavored to 
suppress it, at length overcame her, and broke out in 
an immoderate fit : Lady Muskerry took it in good hu- 
mor, not doubting but it was the fantastical conduct of 
her husband that she was laughing at. Miss Hamilton 
told her that all husbands were much the same, and 
that one ought not to be concerned at their whims ; that 
she did not know who was to be her partner at the mas- 
querade ; but that, as she was named, the gentleman 
named with her would certainly not fail to attend her ; 
although she could not comprehend why he had not yet 
declared himself, unless he likewise had some fantasti- 
cal spouse, who had forbid him to dance. 

This conversation being finished, Lady Muskerry went 
away in great haste, to endeavor to learn some news of 
her partner. Those who were accomplices in the plot 
were laughing very heartily at this visit, when Lord 
Muskerry paid them one in his turn, and taking Miss 
Hamilton aside: "Do you know," said he, "whether 
there is to be any ball in the city to-morrow ? " "No," 
said she; "but why do you ask?" "Because," said 
he, " I am informed that my wife is making great prep- 
arations of dress. I know very well she is not to be 
at the masquerade : that I have taken care of ; but as the 
devil is in her for dancing, I am very much afraid that 
she will be affording some fresh subject for ridicule, not- 
withstanding all my precautions : however, if it was 
amongst the citizens at some private party, I should not 
much mind it." 

They satisfied him as well as they could, and having 
dismissed him, under pretence of a thousand things they 
had to prepare for the next day, Miss Hamilton thought 
herself at liberty for that morning, when in came Miss 
Price, one of the maids of honor to the Duchess.* This 

* Our author's memory here fails him : Miss Price was maid of honor 
to the queen. Mr. Granger says, "there was a L,ady Price, a fine 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 151 

was just what she was wishing for : This lady and Miss 
Blague had been at variance some time, on account of 
Duncan,* whom Miss Price had drawn away from the 
other ; and hatred still subsisted between these two 
divinities. 

Though the maids of honor were not nominated for 
the masquerade, yet they were to assist at it ; and, con- 
sequently, were to neglect nothing to set themselves off 
to advantage. Miss Hamilton had still another pair ot 
gloves of the same sort as those she had sent to Miss 
Blague, which she made a present of to her rival, with 
a few knots of the same riband, which appeared to 
have been made on purpose for her, brown as she was. 
Miss Price returned her a thousand thanks, and promised 
to do herself the honor of wearing them at the ball. 
" You will oblige me if you do," said Miss Hamilton, 
"but if you mention that such a trifle as this comes from 
me, I shall never forgive you ; but," continued she, "do 
not go and rob poor Miss Blague of the Marquis Brisacier, 
as you already have of Duncan : I know very well that 
it is wholly in your power : you have wit : you speak 
French : and were he once to converse with you ever so 
little the other could have no pretensions to him. ' ' This 
was enough : Miss Blague was only ridiculous and co- 
quettish : Miss Price was ridiculous, coquettish, and 
something else besides. 

The day being come, the court, more splendid than 
ever, exhibited all its magnificence at this masquerade. 
The company were all met except the Chevalier de 



woman, who was daughter of Sir Edmond Warcup, concerning whom 
see Wood's Fasti Oxon, ii., 184. Her father had the vanity to think 
that Charles II. would marry her, though he had then a queen. There 
were letters of his wherein he mentioned, that " his daughter was one 
night and t'other with the king, and very graciously received by him." 
— History of England, vol. iv., p. 338. 

* I believe this name should be written Dongan. Eord Orford says, 
of this house were the ancient Earls of Limerick. 



152 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

Grammont: everybody was astonished that he should be 
one of the last at such a time, as his readiness was so 
remarkable on every occasion ; but they were still more 
surprised to see him at length appear in an ordinary 
court dress, which he had worn before. The thing was 
preposterous on such an occasion, and very extraordinary 
with respect to him: in vain had he the finest point-lace, 
with the largest and best powdered peruke imaginable : 
his dress, magnificent enough for any other purpose, was 
not at all proper for this entertainment. 

The king immediately took notice of it: "Chevalier," 
said he, " Termes is not arrived then? " " Pardon me, 
sire," said he, "God be thanked!" "Why God be 
thanked?" said the king ; "has anything happened to 
him on the road ? " " Sire, ' ' said the Chevalier de Gram- 
mont, "this is the history of my dress, and of Termes. 
my messenger. " At these words the ball, ready to begin, 
was suspended: the dancers making a circle around the 
Chevalier de Grammont, he continued his story in the 
following manner. 

" It is now two days since this fellow ought to have- 
been here, according to my orders and his protesta- 
tions ; you may judge of my impatience all this day, 
when I found he did not come: at last, after I had heart- 
ily cursed him, about an hour ago he arrived, splashed 
all over from head to foot, booted up to the waist, and 
looking is if he had been excommunicated : ' Very well, 
Mr. Scoundrel,' said I, 'this is just like you, you must 
be waited for to the very last minute, and it is a miracle 
that you are arrived at all. ' ' Yes, faith, ' said he, ' it is 
a miracle. You are always grumbling : I had the finest 
suit in the world made for you, which the Duke de 
Guise himself was at the trouble of ordering. ' ' Give it 
me then, scoundrel,' said I. ' Sir,' said he, ' if I did not 
employ a dozen embroiderers upon it, who did nothing 
but work day and night, I am a rascal: I never left them 
one moment. ' 'And where is it, traitor ? ' said I : ' do; 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 153 

not stand here prating, while I should be dressing. ' ' I 
had, ' continued he, ' packed it up, made it tight, and 
folded it in such a manner, that all the rain in the world 
could never have been able to reach it ; and I rid post, 
day and night, knowing your impatience, and that you 
were not to be trifled with. ' ' But where is it ? ' said I. 
' Lost, sir, ' said he, clasping his hands. ' How ! lost, ' 
said I, in surprise. ' Yes, lost, perished, swallowed up: 
what can I say more ? ' ' What ! was the packet boat 
cast away then ? ' said I. ' Oh ! indeed, sir, a great deal 
worse, as you shall see,' answered he: ' I was within half 
a league of Calais yesterday morning, and I was resolved 
to go by the seaside, to make greater haste ; but, indeed, 
they say very true, that nothing is like the highway; for 
I got into a quicksand, where I sunk up to the chin.' 
'A quicksand,' said I, 'near Calais?' 'Yes, sir,' said 
he, ' and such a quicksand that, the devil take me, if they 
saw anything but the top of my head when they pulled 
me out: as for my horse, fifteen men could scarce get him 
out; but the portmanteau, where I had unfortunately put 
your clothes, could never be found : it must be at least a 
league under ground.' 

"This, sire," continued the Chevalier de Grammont, 
"is the adventure, and the relation which this honest 
gentleman has given me of it. I should certainly have 
killed him but I was afraid of making Miss Hamilton 
wait, and I was desirous of giving your Majesty imme- 
diate advice of the quicksand, that your couriers may 
take care to avoid it. ' ' 

The king was ready to split his sides with laughing, 
when the Chevalier de Grammont, resuming the discourse,, 
"Apropos, sire," said he, "I had forgot to tell you, 
that, to increase my ill-humor, I was stopped, as I was 
getting out of my chair, by the devil of a phantom in 
masquerade, who would by all means persuade me that 
the queen had commanded me to dance with her; and as 
I excused myself with the least rudeness possible, she 



154 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

charged me to find out who was to be her partner, and 
desired me to send him to her immediately: so that your 
Majesty will do well to give orders about it ; for she has 
placed herself in ambush in a coach, to seize upon all 
those who pass through Whitehall. However, I must 
tell you, that it is worth while to see her dress ; for 
she must have at least sixty ells of gauze and silver tis- 
sue about her, not to mention a sort of a pyramid 
upon her head, adorned with a hundred thousand 
baubles. ' ' 

This last account surprised all the assembly, except 
those who had a share in the plot. The queen assured 
them that all she had appointed for the ball were pres- 
ent ; and the king, having paused some minutes : "I 
bet," said he, " that it is the Duchess of Newcastle." * 
"And I," said Lord Muskerry, coming up to Miss Ham- 
ilton, ' ' will bet it is another fool ; for I am very much 
mistaken if it is not my wife. ' ' 

The king was for sending to know who it was, and to 
bring her in : L,ord Muskerry offered himself for that ser- 
vice, for the reason already mentioned ; and it was very 
well he did so. Miss Hamilton was not sorry for this, 
knowing very well that he was not mistaken in his con- 
jecture; the jest would have gone much farther than she 
intended, if the Princess of Babylon had appeared in all 
her glory. 

* This fantastic lady, as L,ord Orford properly calls her, was the 
youngest daughter of Sir Charles Lucas, and had been one of the maids 
of honor to Charles the First's queen, whom she attended when forced 
to leave England. At Paris she married the Duke of Newcastle, 
and continued in exile with him until the restoration. After her 
return to England, she lived entirely devoted to letters, and pub- 
lished many volumes of plays, poems, letters, etc. She died in 1673, 
and was buried in Westminster Abbey. Eord Orford says, there is a 
whole length of this duchess at Welbeck, in a theatrical dress, which, 
tradition says, she generally wore. She had always a maid of honor 
in waiting during the night, who was often called up to register the 
duchess's conceptions. These were all of a literary kind ; for her grace 
left no children. 



MSI 



!<\¥j j ty 

1 ! L'- ' 




(gfc ,%J?. 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 155 

The ball was not very well executed, if one may be 
allowed the expression, so long as they danced only slow 
dances; and yet there were as good dancers, and as beau- 
tiful women in this assembly, as were to be found in the 
whole world : but as their number was not great, they 
left the French, and went to country dances. When 
they had danced some time, the king thought fit to 
introduce his auxiliaries, to give the others a little 
respite ; the queen's and the duchess's maids of honor 
were therefore called in to dance with the gentlemen. 

Then it was that they were at leisure to take notice of 
Miss Blague, and they found that the billet they had 
conveyed to her on the part of Brisacier had its effect : 
she was more yellow than saffron : her hair was stuffed 
with the citron-colored riband, which she had put there 
out of complaisance; and, to inform Brisacier of his fate, 
she raised often to her head her victorious hands, adorned 
with the gloves we have before mentioned : but, if they 
were surprised to see her in a head-dress that made her 
look more wan than ever, she was very differently sur- 
prised to see Miss Price partake with her in every par- 
ticular of Brisacier's present: her surprise soon turned to 
jealousy; for her rival had not failed to join in conversa- 
tion with him, on account of what had been insinuated 
to her the evening before; nor did Brisacier fail to return 
her first advances, without paying the least attention to 
the fair Blague, nor to the signs which she was torment- 
ing herself to make him, to inform him of his happy 
destiny. 

Miss Price was short and thick, and consequently no 
dancer. The Duke of Buckingham, who brought Brisa- 
cier forward as often as he could, came to desire him, on 
the part of the king, to dance with Miss Blague, without 
knowing what was then passing in this nymph's heart : 
Brisacier excused himself, on account of the contempt he 
had for country dances : Miss Blague thought that it was 
herself that he despised ; and seeing that he was engaged 



156 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

in conversation with her mortal enemy, she began to 
dance, without knowing what she was doing. Though 
her indignation and jealousy were sufficiently remarkable 
to divert the court, none but Miss Hamilton and her ac- 
complices understood the joke perfectly : their pleasure 
was quite complete ; for Lord Muskerry returned, still 
more confounded at the vision, of which the Chevalier de 
Grammont had given the description. He acquainted 
Miss Hamilton that it was Lady Muskerry herself, a 
thousand times more ridiculous than she had ever been 
before, and that he had had an immense trouble to get 
her home, and place a sentry at her chamber door. 

The reader may think, perhaps, that we have dwelt 
too long on these trifling incidents ; perhaps he may be 
right. We will therefore pass to others. 

Everything favored the Chevalier de Grammont in the 
new passion which he entertained: he was not, however, 
without rivals; but, what is a great deal more extraordi- 
nary, he was without uneasiness : he was acquainted with 
their understandings, and no stranger to Miss Hamilton's 
way of thinking. 

Among her lovers, the most considerable, though the 
least professedly so, was the Duke of York : it was in vain 
for him to conceal it, the court was too well acquainted 
with his character to doubt of his inclinations for her. 
He did not think it proper to declare such sentiments as 
were not fit for Miss Hamilton to hear ; but he talked to 
her as much as he could, and ogled her with great assi- 
duity. As hunting was his favorite diversion, that sport 
employed him one part of the day, and he came home 
generally much fatigued ; but Miss Hamilton's presence 
revived him, when he found her either with the queen 
or the duchess. There it was that, not daring to tell her 
of what lay heavy on his heart, he entertained her with 
what he had in his head ; telling her miracles of the cun- 
ning of foxes and the mettle of horses ; giving her 
accounts of broken legs and arms, dislocated shoulders, 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 157 

and other curious and entertaining adventures; after 
which, his eyes told her the rest, till such time as sleep 
interrupted their conversation ; for these tender interpre- 
ters could not help sometimes composing themselves in 
the midst of their ogling. 

The duchess was not at all alarmed at a passion which 
her rival was far from thinking sincere, and with which 
she used to divert herself, as far as respect would admit 
her; on the contrary, as her highness had an affection and 
esteem for Miss Hamilton, she never treated her more 
graciously than on the present occasion. 

The two Russells, uncle * and nephew, f were two 
other of the Chevalier de Grammont's rivals : the uncle 
was full seventy, and had distinguished himself by his 
courage and fidelity in the civil wars. His passions and 
intentions, with regard to Miss Hamilton, appeared both 
at once ; but his magnificence only appeared by halves 
in those gallantries which love inspires. It was not long 
since the fashion of high crowned hats had been left off, 
in order to fall into the other extreme. Old Russell, 
amazed at so terrible a change, resolved to keep a me- 
dium, which made him remarkable : he was still more 
so, by his constancy for cut doublets, which he sup- 
ported a long time after they had been universally sup- 
pressed ; but, what was more surprising than all, was a 
certain mixture of avarice and liberality, constantly at 
war with each other, ever since he had entered the list 
with love. 

His nephew was only of a younger brother's family, 
but was considered as his uncle's heir; and thoueh he 



* Russell, third son of Francis, the fourth Earl of Bedford, and 
colonel of the first regiment of foot guards. He died unmarried, in 
November, 1681. 

t William, eldest son of Edward Russell, younger brother of the 
above John Russell. He was standard-bearer to Charles II., and 
died unmarried, 1674. He was elder brother to Russell, Earl of 
Orford. 



158 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

was under the necessity of attending to his uncle for an 
establishment, and still more so of humoring him, in 
order to get his estate, he could not avoid his fate. Mrs. 
Middleton showed him a sufficient degree of preference ; 
biit her favors could not secure him from the charms of 
Miss Hamilton: his person would have had nothing dis- 
agreeable in it if he had but left it to nature ; but he was 
formal in all his actions, and silent even to stupidity ; 
and yet rather more tiresome when he did speak. 

The Chevalier de Grammont, very much at his ease 
in all these competitions, engaged himself more and 
more in his passion, without forming other designs, or 
conceiving other hopes, than to render himself agree- 
able. Though his passion was openly declared, no per- 
son at court regarded it otherwise than as a habit of 
gallantry, which goes no farther than to do justice to 
merit. 

His monitor, Saint Evremond, was quite of a different 
opinion ; and finding, that, besides an immense increase 
of magnificence and assiduity, he regretted those hours 
which he bestowed on play ; that he no longer sought 
after those long and agreeable conversations they used 
to have together ; and that this new attachment every- 
where robbed him of himself : 

"^ " Monsieur le Chevalier," said he, "methinks that 
for some time you have left the town beauties and their 
lovers in perfect repose : Mrs. Middleton makes fresh 
conquests with impunity, and wears your presents, un- 
der your nose, without your taking the smallest notice. 
Poor Miss Warmestre has been very quietly brought to 
bed in the midst of the court, without your having even 
said a word about it. I foresaw it plain enough, Mon- 
sieur le Chevalier, you have got acquainted with Miss 
Hamilton, and, what has never before happened to you, 
you are really in love ; but let us consider a little what 
may be the consequence. In the first place, then, I be- 
lieve, you have not the least intention of seducing her : 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 159 

such is her birth and merit, that if you were in posses- 
sion of the estate and title of your family, it might be 
excusable in you to offer yourself upon honorable terms, 
however ridiculous marriage may be in general ; for, if 
you only wish for wit, prudence, and the treasures of 
beauty, you could not pay your addresses to a more 
proper person : but for you, who possess only a very 
moderate share of those of fortune, you cannot pay your 
addresses more improperly. 

"For your brother Toulongeon, whose disposition I 
am acquainted with, will not have the complaisance to 
die, to favor your pretensions : but suppose you had a 
competent fortune for you both — and that is supposing 
a good deal — are you acquainted with the delicacy, not 
to say capriciousness, of this fair one about such an en- 
gagement ? Do you know that she has had the choice 
of the best matches in England ? The Duke of Rich- 
mond paid his addresses to her first ; but though he was 
in love with her, still he was mercenary : however, the 
king, observing that want of fortune was the only im- 
pediment to the match, took that article upon himself, 
out of regard to the Duke of Ormond, to the merit and 
birth of Miss Hamilton, and to her father's services ; 
but, resenting that a man, who pretended to be in love, 
should bargain like a merchant, and likewise reflecting 
upon his character in the world, she did not think that 
being Duchess of Richmond was a sufficient recompense 
for the danger that was to be feared from a brute and a 
debauchee. 

"Has not little Jermyn, notwithstanding his uncle's 
great estate, and his own brilliant reputation, failed in 
his suit to her ? And has she ever so much as vouch- 
safed to look at Henry Howard, * who is upon the point 

* This was Henry Howard, brother to Thomas, Earl of Arundel, who 
by a special act of parliament, in 1664, was restored to the honors of 
the family, forfeited by the attainder of his ancestor, in the time of 
Queen Elizabeth. On the death of his brother, in 1667, he became 



160 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

of being the first duke in England, and who is already 
in actual possession of all the estates of the house of Nor- 
folk ? I confess that he is a clown, but what other lady 
in all England would not have dispensed with his stu- 
pidity and his disagreeable person to be the first duchess 
in the kingdom, with twenty-five thousand a year? 

' ' To conclude, Lord Falmouth has told me himself, 
that he has always looked upon her as the only acquisi- 
tion wanting to complete his happiness : but,, that even 
at the height of the splendor of his fortune, he never had 
had the assurance to open his sentiments to her ; that he 
either felt in himself too much weakness, or too much 
pride, to be satisfied with obtaining her solely by the 
persuasion of her relations ; and that, though the first 
refusals of the fair on such occasions are not much 
minded, he knew with what an air she had received the 
addresses of those whose persons she did not like. After 
this, Monsieur le Chevalier, consider what method you 
intend to pursue : for, if you are in love, the passion will 
still increase, and the greater the attachment, the less 
capable will you be of making those serious reflections 
that are now in your power. ' ' 

"My poor philosopher," answered the Chevalier de 
Grammont, ' ' you understand Latin very well, you can 
make good verses, you understand the course, and are 
acquainted with the nature of the stars in the firmament; 
but, as for the luminaries of the terrestrial globe, you 
are utterly unacquainted with them : you have told me 
nothing about Miss Hamilton but what the king told me 
three days ago. That she has refused the savages you 
have mentioned is all in her favor : if she had admitted 
their addresses, I would have had nothing to say to her, 
though I love her to distraction. Attend now to what I 
am going to say : I am resolved to marry her, and I will 

Duke of Norfolk, and died January n, 1683-4, at his house in Arundel 
street, aged 55. 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 161 

have my tutor Saint Evremond himself to be the first 
man to commend me for it. As for an establishment, I 
shall make my peace with the king, and will solicit him 
to make her one of the ladies of the bed-chamber to the 
queen : this he will grant me. Toulongeon will die, with- 
out my assistance, * and notwithstanding all his care ; and 
Miss Hamilton will have Semeat,f with the Chevalier 
de Grammont, as an indemnification for the Norfolks 
and Richmonds. Now, have you anything to advance 
against this project? For I will bet you an hundred 
louis that everything will happen as I have foretold it." 
At this time the king's attachment to Miss Stewart 
was so public, that every person perceived, that if she 
was but possessed of art, she might become as absolute a 
mistress over his conduct as she was over his heart. 
This was a fine opportunity for those who had experience 
and ambition. The Duke of Buckingham formed the 
design of governing her, in order to ingratiate himself 
with the king : God knows what a governor he would 
have been, and what a head he was possessed of, to guide 
another ; however, he was the properest man in the 
world to insinuate himself with Miss Stewart ; she was 
childish in her behavior, and laughed at everything, 
and her taste for frivolous amusements, though unaf- 
fected, was only allowable in a girl about twelve or thir- 
teen years old. A child, however, she was, in every 
other respect, except playing with a doll : blind man's 
buff was her most favorite amusement: she was building 
castles of cards, while the deepest play was going on in 
her apartments, where you saw her surrounded by eager 
courtiers, who handed her the cards, or young architects, 
who endeavored to imitate her. 



* Count de Toulongeon was elder brother to Count Grammont, who, 
by his death, in 1679, became, according to St. Evremond, on that 
event, one of the richest noblemen at Court. — See Si. Evremond' s. 
Works, vol. ii., p. 327. 

t A country seat belonging to the family of the Grammonts. 
11 



162 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

She had, however, a passion for music, and had some 
taste for singing. The Duke of Buckingham, who 
built the finest towers of cards imaginable, had an agree- 
able voice: she had no aversion to scandal: and the duke 
was both the father and the mother of scandal ; he made 
songs, and invented old women's stories, with which she 
was delighted ; but his particular talent consisted in turn- 
ing into ridicule whatever was ridiculous in other people, 
and in taking them off, even in their presence, without 
their perceiving it: in short, he knew how to act all parts 
with so much grace and pleasantry, that it was difficult 
to do without him, when he had a mind to make himself 
agreeable; and he made himself so necessary to Miss 
Stewart's amusement, that she sent all over the town to 
seek for him, when he did not attend the king to her 
apartments. 

He was extremely handsome, * and still thought him- 

* George Villiers, the second Duke of Buckingham, was born 30th 
January, 1627. Lord Orford observes, "When this extraordinary man, 
with the figure and genius of Alcibiades, could equally charm the 
presbyterian Fairfax and the dissolute Charles ; when he alike ridiculed 
that witty king and his solemn chancellor ; when he plotted the ruin 
of his country with a cabal of bad ministers, or, equally unprincipled, 
supported its cause with bad patriots, — one laments that such parts 
should have been devoid of every virtue ; but when Alcibiades turns 
chemist ; when he is a real bubble and a visionary miser ; when ambi- 
tion is but a frolic ; when the worst designs are for the foolishest ends, 
— contempt extinguishes all reflection on his character." 

' ' The portrait of this duke has been drawn by four masterly hands. 
Burnet has hewn it out with his rough chisel ; Count Hamilton touched 
it with that slight delicacy that finishes while it seems but to sketch ; 
Dryden caught the living likeness ; Pope completed the historical re- 
semblance." — Royal Authors, vol. ii., p. 78. 

Of these four portraits, the second is in the text ; the other three will 
complete the character of this extraordinary nobleman. 

Bishop Burnet says, he "was a man of noble presence. He had a 
great liveliness of wit, and a peculiar faculty of turning all things into 
ridicule, with bold figures, and natural descriptions. He had no sort 
of literature, only he was drawn into chemistry ; and for some years 
he thought he was very near finding the philosopher's stone, which 
had the effect that attends on all such men as he was, when they are 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 163 

self much more so than he really was: although he had a 
great deal of discernment, yet his vanity made him mis- 



drawn in, to lay out for it. He had no principles of religion, virtue, or 
friendship : — pleasure, frolic, or extravagant diversion was all that he 
laid to heart. He was true to nothing ; for he was not true to himself. 
He had no steadiness nor conduct : he could keep no secret, nor exe- 
cute any design without spoiling it. He could never fix his thoughts, 
nor govern his estate, though then the greatest in England. He was 
bred about the king, and for many years he had a great ascendancy 
over him ; but he spake of him to all persons with that contempt, that 
at last he drew a lasting disgrace upon himself. And he at length 
ruined both body and mind, fortune and reputation equally. The mad- 
ness of vice appeared in his person in very eminent instances ; since at 
last he became contemptible and poor, sickly, and sunk in his parts, 
as well as in all other respects ; so that his conversation was as much 
avoided as ever it had been courted." — History of his Own Times, vol. 
i., p. 137. 

Dryden's character of him is in these lines : 

" In the first rank of these did Zimri stand ; 

A man so various, that he seem'd to be 

Not one, but all mankind's epitome : 

Stiff in opinions, always in the wrong ; 

Was everything by starts, and nothing long. 

But, in the course of one revolving moon, 

Was chemist, fiddler, statesman, and buffoon ; 

Then all for women, painting, rhyming, drinking, 

Besides ten thousand freaks that died in thinking. 

Blest madman, who could every hour employ 

With something new to wish or to enjoy ! 

Railing and praising were his usual themes, 

And both, to show his judgment, in extremes ; 

So over violent, or over civil, 

That every man with him was god or devil. 

In squandering wealth was his peculiar art ; 

Nothing went unrewarded but desert. 

Beggar'd by fools, whom still he found too late ; 

He had his jest, and they had his estate : 

He laugh'd himself from court, then sought relief 

By forming parties, but could ne'er be chief; 

For, spite of him, the weight of business fell 

•On Absalom and wise Ahitophel : 

Thus wicked but in will, of means bereft, 

He left not faction, but of that was left." 

Absalom and Ahitophel. 



164 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

take some civilities as intended for his person, which 
were only bestowed on his wit and drollery : in short, 
being seduced by too good an opinion of his own merit,, 
he forgot his first project and his Portuguese mistress, in 
order to pursue a fancy in which he mistook himself; 
for he no sooner began to act a serious part with Miss 
Stewart, than he met with so severe a repulse that 
he abandoned, at once, all his designs upon her : how- 
ever, the familiarity she had procured him with the king, 
opened the way to those favors to which he was after- 
wards advanced. 

Lord Arlington* took up the project which the Duke 

Pope describes the last scene of this nobleman's life in these lines : 
" In the worst inn's worst room, with mat half hung, 
The floors of plaster, and the walls of dung, 
On once a flock-bed, but repair'd with straw, 
With tape-tied curtains, never meant to draw ; 
The George and Garter dangling from that bed, 
Where tawdry yellow strove with dirty red, 
Great Villiers lies : — alas ! how chang'd from him, 
That life of pleasure, and that soul of whim ! 
Gallant and gay, in Clieveden's proud alcove, 
The bower of wanton Shrewsbury and love ; 
Or, just as gay, at council, in a ring 
Of mimic'd statesmen, and their merry king. 
No wit, to flatter, left of all his store ! 
No fool to laugh at, which he valued more. 
There, victor of his health, of fortune, friends, 
And fame, this lord of useless thousands ends. ' ' 

Moral Essays, Epist. iii., 1. 299. 
He died 16th April, 1688, at the house of a tenant, at Kirby Moor 
Side, near Helmsley, in Yorkshire, aged 61 years, and was buried in 
Westminster Abbey. 

* Henry Bennet, Earl of Arlington, principal secretary of state, and 
lord chamberlain to King Charles II. : a nobleman whose practices, 
during that reign, have not left his character free from reproach. Mr. 
Macpherson says of him, that he "supplied the place of extensive 
talents by an artful management of such as he possessed. Accom- 
modating in his principles, and easy in his address, he pleased when 
he was known to deceive ; and his manner acquired to him a kind of 
influence where he commanded no respect. He was little calculated 
for bold measures, on account of his natural timidity ; and that defect 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 165 

of Buckingham had abandoned, and endeavored to gain 
possession of the mind of the mistress, in order to govern 
the master. A man of greater merit and higher birth 
than himself might, however, have been satisfied with 
the fortune he had already acquired. His first negotia- 
tions were during the treaty of the Pyrenees: and though 
he was unsuccessful in his proceedings for his employer, 
yet he did not altogether lose his time ; for he perfectly 
acquired, in his exterior, the serious air and profound 
gravity of the Spaniards, and imitated pretty well their 
tardiness in business : he had a scar across his nose, 
which was covered by a long patch, or rather by a small 
plaster, in form of a lozenge. 

Scars in the face commonly give a man a certain fierce 
and martial air, which sets him off to advantage ; but it 
was quite the contrary with him, and this remarkable 
plaster so well suited his mysterious looks, that it seemed 
an addition to his gravity and self-sufficiency. 

Arlington, under the mask of this compound counte- 
nance, where great earnestness passed for business, and 
impenetrable stupidity for secrecy, had given himself the 
character of a great politician ; and no one having leisure 
to examine him, he was taken at his word, and had been 
made minister and secretary of state, upon the credit of 
his own importance. 

created an opinion of his moderation that was ascribed to virtue. His 
facility to adopt new measures was forgotten in his readiness to 
acknowledge the errors of the old. The deficiency of his integrity 
was forgiven in the decency of his dishonesty. Too weak not to be 
superstitious, yet possessing too much sense to own his adherence to the 
church of Rome, he lived a protestaut in his outward profession, but 
he died a catholic. Timidity was the chief characteristic of his mind ; 
and that being known, he was even commanded by cowards. He 
was the man of the least genius of the party : but he had most 
experience in that slow and constant current of business, which, per- 
haps, suits affairs of state better than the violent exertions of men of 
great parts." —Original Papers, vol. i. Lord Arlington died July 28, 
1685. See a character of him in Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham's 
Works. 



166 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

His ambition soaring still above these high stations^, 
after having provided himself with a great number of 
fine maxims, and some historical anecdotes, he obtained 
an audience of Miss Stewart, in order to display them; at 
the same time offering her his most humble services, and 
best advice, to assist her in conducting herself in the sit- 
uation to which it had pleased God and her virtue to 
raise her. But he was only in the preface of his speech, 
when she recollected that he was at the head of those 
whom the Duke of Buckingham used to mimic ; and as- 
his presence and his language exactly revived the ridicu- 
lous ideas that had been given her of him, she could not 
forbear bursting out into a fit of laughter in his face, so 
much the more violent as she had for a long time strug- 
gled to suppress it. 

The minister was enraged : his pride became his post, 
and his punctilious behavior merited all the ridicule which, 
could be attached to it: he quitted her abruptly, with all. 
the fine advice he had prepared for her, and was almost 
tempted to carry it to L,ady Castlemaine, and to unite 
himself with her interests ; or immediately to quit the 
court party, and declaim freely in parliament against 
the grievances of the state, and particularly to propose- 
an act to forbid the keeping of mistresses ; but his pru- 
dence conquered his resentments ; and thinking only 
how to enjoy with pleasure the blessings of fortune, he 
sent to Holland for a wife,* in order to complete his. 
felicity. 

Hamilton was, of all the courtiers, the best qualified 



* This lady was Isabella, daughter to Lewis de Nassau, Lord Bever- 
waert, son to Maurice, Prince of Orange, and Count Nassau. By her, 
Lord Arlington had an only daughter, named Isabella, who married, 
August i, 1672, Henry, Earl of Euston, son to King Charles II., by 
Barbara, Duchess of Cleveland, created afterwards Duke of Grafton ; 
and, after his death, to Sir Thomas Hanmer, Bart. She assisted at the 
coronation of King George I., as Countess of Arlington, in her own: 
right, and died February 7, 1722-3. 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 167 

to succeed in an enterprise in which the Duke of Buck- 
ingham and Lord Arlington had miscarried : he was 
thinking upon it ; but his natural coquetry traversed his 
intentions, and made him neglect the most advantageous 
prospects in the world, in order unnecessarily to attend 
to the advances and allurements thrown out to him by 
the Countess of Chesterfield. This was one of the most 
agreeable women in the world : she had a most exquisite 
shape, though she was not very tall ; her complexion 
was extremely fair, with all the expressive charms of a 
brunette ; she had large blue eyes, very tempting and 
alluring ; her manners were engaging ; her wit lively 
and amusing ; butter heart, ever open to tender senti- 
ments, was neither scrupulous in point of constancy, 
nor nice in point of sincerity. She was daughter to the 
Duke of Ormond, * and Hamilton, being her cousin- 
german, they might be as much as they pleased in each 
other's company without being particular ; but as soon 
as her eyes gave him some encouragement, he enter- 
tained no other thoughts than how to please her, with- 
out considering her fickleness, or the obstacles he had to 
encounter. His intention, which we mentioned before, 
of establishing himself in the confidence of Miss Stewart 
no longer occupied his thoughts: she now was of opinion 
that she was capable of being the mistress of her own 
conduct : she had done all that was necessary to inflame 
the king's passions, without exposing her virtue by 
granting the last favors; but the eagerness of a passionate 
lover, blessed with favorable opportunities, is difficult 
to withstand, and still more difficult to vanquish ; and 
Miss Stewart's virtue was almost exhausted, when the 
queen was attacked with a violent fever, which soon 
reduced her to extreme danger. 



* And second wife of the Earl of Chesterfield, She survived the ad- 
ventures here related a very short time, dying in July, 1665, at the age 
of 25 years. 



16S MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

Then it was that Miss Stewart was greatly pleased 
with herself for the resistance she had made, though she 
had paid dearly for it : a thousand flattering hopes of 
greatness and glory filled her heart, and the additional 
respect that was universally paid her contributed not a 
little to increase them. The queen was given over by 
her physicians : * the few Portuguese women that had 
not been sent back to their own country filled the court 
with doleful cries ; and the good nature of the king was 
much affected with the situation in which he saw a 
princess, whom, though he did not love her, yet he 
greatly esteemed. She loved him tenderly, and think- 
ing that it was the last time she should ever speak to 
him, she told him, that the concern he showed for her 
death was enough to make her quit life with regret ; but 
that not possessing charms sufficient to merit his tender- 
ness, she had at least the consolation in dying to give 
place to a consort who might be more worthy of it, and 
to whom heaven, perhaps, might grant a blessing that 
had been refused to her. At these words, she bathed his 
hands with some tears, which he thought would be her 
last : he mingled his own with hers ; and without sup- 
posing she would take him at his word, he conjured her 
to live for his sake. She had never yet disobeyed him ; 
and, however dangerous sudden impulses may be, when 
one is between life and death, this transport of joy, 
which might have proved fatal to her, saved her life, 
and the king's wonderful tenderness had an effect for 



* This happened in October, 1663. Lord Arlington, in a letter to the 
Duke of Ormond, dated the 17th of that month, says, "the condition 
of the queen is much worse, and the physicians give us but little hopes 
of her recovery ; by the next you will hear she is either in a fair way 
to it, or dead : to-morrow is a very critical day with her : God's will be 
done. The king coming to see her this morning, she told him she 
willingly left all the world but him ; which hath very much afflicted 
his majesty, and all the court with him." — Brown's Miscellanea 
Aulica, 1702, p. 306. 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 169 

which every person did not thank heaven in the same 
manner. 

Jermyn had now for some time been recovered of his 
wounds: however, Lady Castlemaine, finding his health 
in as deplorable a condition as ever, resolved to regain 
the king's heart, but in vain : for notwithstanding the 
softness of her tears, and the violence of her passions, 
Miss Stewart wholly possessed it. During this period 
the court was variously entertained : sometimes there 
were promenades, and at others the court beauties sallied 
out on horseback, and to make attacks with their charms 
and graces, sometimes successfully, sometimes other- 
wise, but always to the best of their abilities : at other 
seasons there were such shows on the river as the city 
of London alone can afford. 

The Thames washes the sides of a large though not a 
magnificent palace of the kings of Great Britain : * from 
the stairs of this palace the court used to take water in 
the summer evenings, when the heat and dust prevented 
their walking in the park : an infinite number of open 
boats, filled with the court and city beauties, attended 
the barges, in which were the Royal Family : collations, 
music and fireworks, completed the scene. The Cheva- 
lier de Grammont always made one of the company, 
and it was very seldom that he did not add something 
of his own invention, agreeably to surprise by some un- 
expected stroke of magnificence and gallantry. Some- 
times he had complete concerts of vocal and instrumental 
music, which he privately brought from Paris, and which 
struck up on a sudden in the midst of these parties ; 
sometimes he gave banquets, which likewise came from 
France, and which, even in the midst of London, sur- 
passed the king's collations. These entertainments 
sometimes exceeded, as others fell short of his expecta- 



* This was Whitehall, which was burnt down, except the banqueting- 
house, 4th January, 1698.— See Harleian Mtsce/Jany, vol. vi., p. 367. 



170 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

tions, but they always cost him an immense deal of 
money. 

Lord Falmouth was one of those who had the greatest 
friendship and esteem for the Chevalier de Grammont : 
this profusion gave him concern, and as he often used to. 
go and sup with him without ceremony, one day finding 
only Saint Evremond there, and a supper fit for half a 
dozen guests, who had been invited in form: "You must 
not," said he, addressing himself to the Chevalier de 
Grammont, ' ' be obliged to me for this visit. I come 
from the king's coucher, where all the discourse was 
about you ; and I can assure you that the manner in 
which the king spoke of you, could not afford you so 
much pleasure as I myself felt upon the occasion. You 
know very well, that he has long since offered you his 
good offices with the King of France ; and for my own 
part," continued he, smiling, "you know very well that 
I would solicit him so to do, if it was not through fear 
of losing you as soon as your peace is made ; but, thanks 
to Miss Hamilton, you are in no great haste : however, 
I am ordered by the king, my master, to acquaint you, 
that while you remain here, until you are restored to the 
favor of your sovereign, he presents you with a pension 
of fifteen hundred Jacobus's : it is indeed a trifle, con- 
sidering the figure the Chevalier de Grammont makes, 
among us; but it will assist him," said he, embracing 
him, " to give us sometimes a supper." 

The Chevalier de Grammont received, as he ought, 
the offer of a favor he did not think proper to accept: "I 
acknowledge," said he, " the king's bounty in this pro- 
posal, but I am still more sensible of Lord Falmouth's, 
generosity in it ; and I request him to assure his Majesty 
of my perfect gratitude : the king, my master, will not 
suffer me to want, when he thinks fit to recall me ; and 
while I continue here, I will let you see that I have 
wherewithal to give my English friends now and then a 
supper. ' ' 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 171 

At these words, he called for his strong box, and 
showed him seven or eight thousand guineas in solid 
gold. Lord Falmouth, willing to improve to the Cheva- 
lier's advantage the refusal of so advantageous an offer, 
gave Monsieur de Comminge, * then ambassador at the 
English court, an account of it ; nor did Monsieur de 
Comminge fail to represent properly the merit of such a 
refusal to the French court. 

Hyde Park, every one knows, is the promenade of 
London : f nothing was so much in fashion, during the 
fine weather, as that promenade, which was the rendez- 
vous of magnificence and beauty : every one, therefore, 
who had either sparkling eyes, or a splendid equipage, 
constantly repaired thither; and the king seemed pleased 
with the place. 

Coaches with glasses X were then a late invention : the 



*This gentleman was ambassador in London, from the court of 
France, during the years 1663, 1664, and 1665. Ford Clarendon,, 
speaking of him, describes him as something capricious in his nature, 
which made him hard to treat with, and not always vacant at the 
hours himself assigned ; being hypochondriac, and seldom sleeping 
without opium. — Continuation of Clai r endon , s Life, p. 263. 

f The writer already quoted gives this description of the entertain- 
ments of the place at this period : 

' ' I did frequently, in the spring, accompany my lord N into a 

field near the town, which they call Hyde Park ; the place is not 
unpleasant, and which they use as our course ; but with nothing of 
that order, equipage, and splendor ; being such an assembly of 
wretched jades, and hackney coaches, as, next a regiment of car- 
men, there is nothing approaches the resemblance. This park was 
(it seems) used by the late king and nobility for the freshness of the 
air and the goodly prospect ; but it is that which now (besides all 
other excises) they pay for here, in England, though it be free in 
all the world besides ; every coach and horse which enters buying his 
mouthful, and permission of the publican who has purchased it ; for 
which the entrance is guarded with porters and long staves. — A Char- 
acter of England, as it was lately presented to a Nobleman of France, 
i2mo., 1659, P- 54- 

% Coaches were first introduced into England in the year 1564. 
Taylor, the water poet {Works, 1630, p. 240), says, — "One William 
Boonen, a Dutchman, brought first the use of coaches hither ; and the 



172 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

ladies were afraid of being shut up in them : they greatly 
preferred the pleasure of showing almost their whole 
persons, to the conveniences of modern coaches : that 
which was made for the king not being remarkable for 
its elegance, the Chevalier de Grammont was of opinion 
that something ingenious might be invented, which 
should partake of the ancient fashion, and likewise prove 
preferable to the modern; he therefore sent away Termes 
privately with all the necessary instructions to Paris: the 
Duke of Guise was likewise charged with this commission; 
and the courier, having by the favor of Providence 
escaped the quicksand, in a month's time brought safely 
over to England, the most elegant and magnificent calash 
that had ever been seen, which the Chevalier presented 
to the king. 

The Chevalier de Grammont had given orders that fif- 
teen hundred louis should be expended upon it; but the 
Duke of Guise, who was his friend, to oblige him, laid 
out two thousand. All the court was in admiration at 
the magnificence of the present ; and the king, charmed 
with the Chevalier's attention to everything which 
could afford him pleasure, failed not to acknowledge it : 
he would not, however, accept a present of so much 
value, but upon condition that the Chevalier should not 
refuse another from him. 

The queen, imagining that so splendid a carriage 
might prove fortunate for her, wished to appear in it first, 

said Boonen was Oueen Elizabeth's coachman ; for, indeed, a coach was 
a strange monster in those days, and the sight of them put both horse 
and man into amazement. ' ' Dr. Percy observes, they were first drawn 
by two horses, and that it was the favorite Buckingham, who, about 
1619, began to draw it with six horses. About the same time, he intro- 
duced the sedan. The Ultimimi Vale of John Carleton, 4to., 1663, 
p. 23, will, in a great measure, ascertain the time of the introduction 
of glass coaches. He says, "I could wish her (z. e. Mary Carleton's) 
coach (which she said my lord Taff bought for her in England, and sent 
it over to her, made of the new fashion, with glasse, very stately ; and 
her pages and lacquies were of the same livery) was come for me," etc. 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 173 

with the Duchess of York. Lady Castlemaine, who had 
seen them in it, thinking that it set off a fine figure to 
greater advantage than any other, desired the king to 
lend her this wonderful calash to appear in it the first 
fine day in Hyde Park: Miss Stewart had the same wish, 
and requested to have it on the same day. As it was 
impossible to reconcile these two goddesses, whose for- 
mer union was turned into mortal hatred, the king was 
very much perplexed. 

Lady Castlemaine was with child, and threatened to 
miscarry, if her rival was preferred ; Miss Stewart 
threatened, that she never would be with child, if her 
request was not granted. This menace prevailed, and 
Lady Castlemaine' s rage was so great, that she had 
almost kept her word; and it was believed that this 
triumph cost her rival some of her innocence. 

The queen dowager, who, though she had no share in 
these broils, had no objection to them, and as usual being 
diverted with this circumstance, she took occasion to joke 
with the Chevalier de Grammont, for having thrown 
this bone of contention among such competitors ; and 
did not fail to give him, in the presence of the whole 
court, those praises which so magnificent a present 
deserved: "But how comes it," said she, "that you have 
no equipage yourself, though you are at so great an ex- 
pense ? for I am told that you do not keep even a single 
footman, and that one of the common runners in the 
streets lights you home with a stinking link." " Mad- 
am," said he, "the Chevalier de Grammont hates pomp: 
my link-boy, of whom you speak, is faithful to my ser- 
vice; and besides, he is one of the bravest fellows in the 
world. Your Majesty is unacquainted with the nation 
of link-boys : it is a charming one, I can assure you : a 
man cannot step out in the night without being sur- 
rounded by a dozen of them. The first time I became 
acquainted with them, I retained all that offered me 
their services; so that when I arrived at Whitehall, I had 



174 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 



at least two hundred about my chair: the sight was new; 
for those who had seen me pass with this illumination, 
asked whose funeral it was. These gentlemen, however, 
began fighting about some dozen shillings I had thrown 
among them then; and he whom your Majesty mentions, 
having beaten three or four of his companions, I retained 
him for his valor. As for the parade of coaches and 
footmen, I despise it : I have sometimes had five or six 
valets-de-chambre at once, without having a single ser- 
vant in livery, except my chaplain Poussatin. " " How ! ' ' 
said the queen, bursting out laughing, "a chaplain in 
your livery ! he surely was not a priest ? " " Pardon me, 
madam," said he, "and the first priest in the world for 
dancing the Biscayan jig." "Chevalier," said the 
king, "pray tell us the history of your chaplain 
Poussatin." 




OUEEN DO\> 







CHAPTER VIII. 

' ' SiRE, ' ' said the Chevalier de Grammont, ' ' the Prince 
de Conde besieged Lerida : * the place in itself was 
nothing ; but Don Gregorio Brice, who defended it, was 
something. He was one of those Spaniards of the old 
stamp, as valiant as the Cid, as proud as all the Guzmans 
put together, and more gallant than all the Abencerrages 
of Grenada : he suffered us to make our first approaches 
to the place without the least molestation. The Marshal 
de Grammont, f whose maxim it was, that a governor 
who at first makes a great blustering, and burns his 
suburbs in order to make a noble defence, generally 
makes a very bad one, looked upon Gregorio de Brice' s 
politeness as no good omen for us ; but the prince, cov- 
ered with glory, and elated with the campaigns of 
Rocroy, Norlinguen, and Fribourg, to insult both the 



*This was in 1647. Voltaire says "he, Conde, was accused, upon 
this occasion, in certain books, of a bravado, in having opened the 
trenches to the music of violins ; but these writers were ignorant that 
this was the custom of Spain." — Age of Louis XIV., chap. 2. 

t Anthony, marechal of France. He appears to have quitted the 
army in 1672. " L,e Due de la Feuillade est colonel du regiment des 
gardes sur la demission volontaire du Marechal de Grammont. ' ' — Hi- 
naulfs History of France. He died 1678. 

(175) 



176 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

place and the governor, ordered the trenches to be 
mounted at noonday by his own regiment, at the head 
of which marched four-and -twenty fiddlers, as if it had 
been to a wedding. 

" Night approaching, we were all in high spirits : our 
violins were playing soft airs, and we were comfortably 
regaling ourselves : God knows how we were joking 
about the poor governor and his fortifications, both of 
which we promised ourselves to take in less than twenty- 
four hours. This was going on in the trenches, when 
we heard an ominous cry from the ramparts, repeated 
two or three times, of, 'Alerte on the walls ! ' This cry 
was followed by a discharge of cannon and musketry, 
and this discharge by a vigorous sally, which, after hav- 
ing filled up the trenches, pursued us as far as our grand 
guard. 

"The next day Gregorio Brice sent by a trumpet a 
present of ice and fruit to the Prince de Conde, humbly 
beseeching his highness to excuse his not returning the 
serenade which he was pleased to favor him with, as 
unfortunately he had no violins ; but that if the music 
of last night was not disagreeable to him, he would en- 
deavor to continue it as long as he did him the honor to 
remain before the place. The Spaniard was as good as 
his word ; and as soon as we heard, 'Alerte on the walls,' 
we were sure of a sally, that cleared our trenches, de- 
stroyed our works, and killed the best of our officers and 
soldiers. The prince was so piqued at it, that, contrary 
to the opinion of the general officers, he obstinately per- 
sisted in carrying on a siege which was like to ruin his 
army, and which he was at last forced to quit in a 
hurry. 

' 'As our troops were retiring, Don Gregorio, far from 
giving himself those airs which governors generally do 
on such occasions, made no other sally than sending a 
respectful compliment to the prince. Signor Brice set 
out not long after for Madrid, to give an account of his 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 177 

conduct, and to receive the recompense he had merited. 
Your majesty perhaps will be desirous to know what 
reception poor Brice met with, after having performed 
the most brilliant action the Spaniards could boast of in 
all the war — he was confined by the inquisition. ' ' 

"How!" said the queen dowager, "confined by the 
inquisition for his services?" "Not altogether for his 
services," said the Chevalier ; " but without any regard 
to his services, he was treated in the manner I have men- 
tioned for a little affair of gallantry, which I shall relate 
to the king presently. 

"The campaign of Catalonia being thus ended, we 
were returning home, not overloaded with laurels ; but 
as the Prince de Conde had laid up a great store on 
former occasions, and as he had still great projects in his 
head, he soon forgot this trifling misfortune : we did 
nothing but joke with one another during the march, 
-and the prince was the first to ridicule the siege. We 
made some of those rhymes on Lerida, which were sung 
all over France, in order to prevent others more severe ; 
however, we gained nothing by it, for notwithstanding 
we treated ourselves freely in our own ballads, others 
were composed in Paris in which we were ten times more 
severely handled. At last we arrived at Perpignan upon 
a holy-day : a company of Catalans, who were dancing 
in the middle of the street, out of respect to the prince 
came to dance under his windows : Monsieur Poussatin, 
in a little black jacket, danced in the middle of this 
company, as if he was really mad. I immediately recog- 
nized him for my countryman, from his manner of skip- 
ping and frisking about : the prince was charmed with 
his humor and activity. After the dance, I sent for him, 
and inquired who he was : 'A poor priest, at your ser- 
vice, my lord, ' said he : ' my name is Poussatin, and 
Beam is my native country : I was going into Catalonia 
to serve in the infantry, for, God be praised, I can march 
^very well on foot ; but since the war is happily con- 
12 



178 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

eluded, if your lordship pleases to take me into your 
service, I would follow you everywhere, and serve you 
faithfully.' 'Monsieur Poussatin,' said I, 'my lordship 
has no great occasion for a chaplain ; but since you are 
so well disposed towards me, I will take you into my 
service.' 

"The Prince de Conde, who was present at this con- 
versation, was overjoyed at my having a chaplain. As 
poor Poussatin was in a very tattered condition, I had no 
time to provide him with a proper habit at Perpignan ;. 
but giving him a spare livery of one of the Marshal de 
Grammont's servants, I made him get up behind the 
prince's coach, who was like to die with laughing every 
time he looked at poor Poussatin' s uncanonical mien in 
a yellow livery. 

' 'As soon as we arrived at Paris, the story was told to 
the queen, who at first expressed some surprise at it : 
this, however, did not prevent her from wishing to see 
my chaplain dance ; for in Spain it is not altogether 
so strange to see ecclesiastics dance, as to see them in 
livery. 

' ' Poussatin performed wonders before the queen ; but 
as he danced with great sprightliness, she could not bear 
the odor which his violent motions diffused around her 
room : the ladies likewise began to pray for relief ; for 
he had almost entirely got the better of all the perfumes 
and essences with which they were fortified : Poussatin, 
nevertheless, retired with a great deal of applause, and 
some louis d'or. 

' ' Some time afterwards I procured a small benefice in 
the country for my chaplain, and I have since been in- 
formed that Poussatin preached with the same ease in 
his village as he danced at the wedding of his parish- 
ioners. ' ' 

The king was exceedingly diverted at Poussatin's 
history ; and the queen was not much hurt at his having 
been put in livery : the treatment of Gregorio Brice 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 179 

offended her far more ; and being desirous to justify the 
court of Spain, with respect to so cruel a proceeding : 
" Chevalier de Grammont," said she, " what heresy did 
Governor Brice wish to introduce into the state ? What 
crime against religion was he charged with, that he was 
confined in the inquisition?" "Madam, 1 ' said he, "the 
history is not very proper to be related before your 
majesty : it was a little amorous frolic, ill-timed indeed ; 
but poor Brice meant no harm : a schoolboy would not 
have been whipped for such a fault in the most severe 
college in France ; as it was only for giving some proofs 
of his affection to a young Spanish fair one, who had 
fixed her eyes upon him on a solemn occasion." 

The king desired to know the particulars of the ad- 
venture ; and the Chevalier gratified his curiosity as soon 
as the queen and the rest of the court were out of hear- 
ing. It was very entertaining to hear him tell a story ; 
but it was very disagreeable to differ with him, either in 
competition, or in raillery: it is true that at that time there 
were few persons at the English court who had merited 
his indignation : Russell was sometimes the subject of 
his ridicule, but he treated him far more tenderly than 
he usually did a rival. 

This Russell was one of the most furious dancers in 
all England, I mean, for country dances : he had a col- 
lection of two or three hundred in print, all of which he 
danced at sight; and to prove that he was not an old man, 
he sometimes danced until he was almost exhausted : 
his mode of dancing was like that of his clothes, for they 
both had been out of fashion full twenty years. 

The Chevalier de Grammont was very sensible that he 
was very much in love ; but though he saw very well 
that it only rendered him more ridiculous, yet he felt 
some concern at the information he received, of his in- 
tention of demanding Miss Hamilton in marriage ; but 
his concern did not last long. 

Russell, being upon the point of setting out on a 



3 80 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

journey, thought it was proper to acquaint his mistress 
with his intentions before his departure. The Chevalier 
de Grammont was a great obstacle to the interview he 
was desirous of obtaining of her ; but being one day sent 
for, to go and play at Lady Castlemaine's, Russell seized 
the opportunity, and addressing himself to Miss Hamil- 
ton, with less embarrassment than is usual on such occa- 
sions, he made his declaration to her in the following 
manner: "I am brother to the Earl of Bedford : I com- 
mand the regiment of guards : I have three thousand 
pounds a year, and fifteen thousand in ready money : all 
which, madam, I come to present to you, along with my 
person. One present, I agree, is not worth much with- 
out the other, and therefore I put them together. I am 
advised to go to some of the watering places for some- 
thing of an asthma, which, in all probability, cannot 
continue much longer, as I have had it for these last 
twenty years : if you look upon me as worthy of the hap- 
piness of belonging to you, I shall propose it to your 
father, to whom I did not think it right to apply before 
I was acquainted with your sentiments : my nephew 
William is at present entirely ignorant of my intention ; 
but I believe he will not be sorry for it, though he will 
thereby see himself deprived of a pretty considerable 
estate ; for he has great affection for me, and besides, he 
has a pleasure in paying his respects to you since he has 
perceived my attachment. I am very much pleased that 
he should make his court to me, by the attention he 
pays to you ; for he did nothing but squander his money 
upon that coquette Middleton, while at present he is at 
no expense, though he frequents the best company in 
England. ' ' 

Miss Hamilton had much difficulty to suppress her 
laughter during this harangue : however, she told him 
that she thought herself much honored by his intentions 
towards her, and still more obliged to him for consulting 
her, before he made any overtures to her relations : "It 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 181 

will be time enough, ' ' said she, ' ' to speak to them upon 
the subject at your return from the waters ; for I do not 
think it is at all probable that they will dispose of me 
before that time, and in case they should be urgent in 
their solicitations, your nephew William will take care 
to acquaint you ; therefore, you may set out whenever 
you think proper ; but take care not to injure your health 
by returning too soon. ' ' 

The Chevalier de Grammont, having heard the par- 
ticulars of this conversation, endeavored, as well as he 
could, to be entertained with it ; though there were cer- 
tain circumstances in the declaration, notwithstanding 
the absurdity of others, which did not fail to give him 
some uneasiness. Upon the whole, he was not sorry for 
Russell's departure ; and, assuming an air of pleasantry, 
he went to relate to the king how Heaven had favored 
him by delivering him from so dangerous a rival. "He 
is gone then, Chevalier," said the king. "Certainly, 
sir, ' ' said he ; "I had the honor to see him embark in a 
coach, with his asthma, and country equipage, his 
perruque a calotte, neatly tied with a yellow riband, and 
his old-fashioned hat covered with oil-skin, which be- 
comes him uncommonly well : therefore, I have only to 
contend with William Russell, whom he leaves as his 
resident with Miss Hamilton ; and as for him, I neither 
fear him upon his own account, nor his uncle's ; he is 
too much in love himself to pay attention to the interests 
of another ; and as he has but one method of promoting 
his own, which is by sacrificing the portrait, or some 
love-letters of Mrs. Middleton, I have it easily in my 
power to counteract him in such kind of favors, though 
I confess I have pretty well paid for them." 

"Since your affairs proceed so prosperously with the 
Russells," said the king, "I will acquaint you that you 
are delivered from another rival, much more dangerous, 
if he were not already married : my brother has lately 
fallen in love with Lady Chesterfield. " " How many 



182 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

blessings at once ! ' ' exclaimed the Chevalier de Gram- 
mont : "I have so many obligations to him for this in- 
constancy, that I would willingly serve him in his new 
amour, if Hamilton was not his rival : nor will your 
majesty take it ill, if I promote the interests of my mis- 
tress's brother, rather than those of your majesty's 
brother. " " Hamilton, however, ' ' said the king, ' ' does 
not stand so much in need of assistance, in affairs of this 
nature, as the Duke of York ; but I know Lord Chester- 
field is of such a disposition, that he will not suffer men 
to quarrel about his wife, with the same patience as the 
complaisant Shrewsbury ; though he well deserves the 
same fate." Here follows a true description of Lord 
Chesterfield. * 

He had a very agreeable face, a fine head of hair, an 
indifferent shape, and a worse air ; he was not, however, 
deficient in wit : a long residence in Italy had made him 
ceremonious in his commerce with men, and jealous in 
his connection with women : he had been much hated 
by the king, because he had been much beloved by 
Lady Castlemaine : it was reported that he had been in 
her good graces prior to her marriage ; and as neither 
of them denied it, it was the more generally believed. 

He had paid his devoirs to the eldest daughter of the 
Duke of Ormond, while his heart was still taken up with 
his former passion : the king's love for Lady Castle- 
maine, and the advancement he expected from such an 
alliance, made him press the match with as much ardor 
as if he had been passionately in love : he had therefore 

* Philip, the second Barl of Chesterfield. He was constituted, in 
1662, lord-chamberlain to the queen, and colonel of a regiment of foot, 
June 13, 1667. On November 29, 1679, he was appointed lord-warden 
and chief-justice of the king's forests on this side Trent, and sworn of 
the privy-council, January 26, 1680. On November 6, 1682, he was made 
colonel of the third regiment of foot, which, with the rest of his prefer- 
ments, he resigned on the accession of James II. He lived to the age 
of upwards of 80, and died January 28, 17 13, at his house, in Blooms- 
bury-square. 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 183 

married Lady Chesterfield without loving her, and had 
lived some time with her in such coolness as to leave her 
no room to doubt of his indifference. As she was en- 
dowed with great sensibility and delicacy, she suffered 
at this contempt : she was at first much affected with his 
behavior, and afterwards enraged at it ; and, when he 
began to give her proofs of his affection, she had the 
pleasure of convincing him of her indifference. 

They were upon this footing, when she resolved to 
cure Hamilton, as she had lately done her husband, of 
all his remaining tenderness for Lady Castlemaine. For 
her it was no difficult undertaking ; the conversation of 
the one was disagreeable, from the unpolished state of 
her manners, her ill-timed pride, her uneven temper, and 
extravagant humors : Lady Chesterfield, on the contrary, 
knew how to heighten her charms with all the bewitch- 
ing attractions in the power of a woman to invent who 
wishes to make a conquest. 

Besides all this, she had greater opportunities of mak- 
ing advances to him than to any other : she lived at the 
Duke of Ormond's, at Whitehall, where Hamilton, as 
was said before, had free admittance at all hours : her 
extreme coldness, or rather the disgust which she showed 
for her husband's returning affection, wakened his nat- 
ural inclination to jealousy : he suspected that she could 
not so very suddenly pass from anxiety to indifference for 
him, without some secret object of a new attachment ; 
and, according to the maxim of all jealous husbands, he 
immediately put in practice all his experience and in- 
dustry, in order to make a discovery, which was to de- 
stroy his own happiness. 

Hamilton, who knew his disposition, was, on the 
other hand, upon his guard, and the more he advanced 
in his intrigue, the more attentive was he to remove 
every degree of suspicion from the earl's mind : he pre- 
tended to make him his confidant, in the most unguarded 
and open manner, of his passion for Lady Castlemaine : 



184 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

he complained of her caprice, and most earnestly desired 
his advice how to succeed with a person whose affections; 
he alone had entirely possessed. 

Chesterfield, who was flattered with this discourse, 
promised him his protection with greater sincerity than 
it had been demanded : Hamilton, therefore, was no 
further embarrassed than to preserve Lady Chesterfield's 
reputation, who, in his opinion, declared herself rather 
too openly in his favor : but whilst he was diligently 
employed in regulating, within the rules of discretion, 
the partiality she expressed for him, and in conjuring 
her to restrain her glances within bounds, she was re- 
ceiving those of the Duke of York ; and, what is more, 
made them favorable returns. 

He thought that he had perceived it, as well as every 
one besides ; but he thought likewise, that all the world 
was deceived as well as himself: how could he trust his- 
own eyes, as to what those of Lady Chesterfield be- 
trayed for this new rival? He could not think it prob- 
able, that a woman of her disposition could relish a man 
whose manners had a thousand times been the subject of 
their private ridicule ; but what he judged still more 
improbable was, that she should begin another intrigue 
before she had given the finishing stroke to that in which 
her own advances had engaged her : however, he began 
to observe her with more circumspection, when he found 
by his discoveries, that if she did not deceive him, at 
least the desire of doing so was not wanting. This he 
took the liberty of telling her of; but she answered hint 
in so high a strain, and treated what he said so much 
like a phantom of his own imagination, that he appeared 
confused without being convinced : all the satisfaction 
he could procure from her, was her telling him, in a 
haughty manner, that such unjust reproaches as his- 
ought to have had a better foundation. 

Lord Chesterfield had taken the sarhe alarm ; and being 
convinced, from the observations he had made, that he: 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 185 

had found out the happy lover who had gained possession 
of his lady's heart, he was satisfied ; and without teas- 
ing her with unnecessary reproaches, he only waited for 
an opportunity to confound her, before he took his 
measures. 

After all, how can we account for Lady Chesterfield's 
conduct, unless we attribute it to the disease incident to 
most coquettes, who, charmed with superiority, put in 
practice every art to rob another of her conquest, and 
spare nothing to preserve it. 

But before we enter into the particulars of this adven- 
ture, let us take a retrospect of the amours of his Royal 
Highness, prior to the declaration of his marriage, and 
particularly of what immediately preceded this declara- 
tion. It is allowable sometimes to drop the thread of a 
narrative, when real facts, not generally known, give 
such a variety upon the digression as to render it ex- 
cusable : let us see then how those things happened. 

The Duke of York's marriage, * with the chancellor's 
daughter, was deficient in none of those circumstances 
which render contracts of this nature valid in the eye of 
heaven : the mutual inclination, the formal ceremony, 
witnesses, and every essential point of matrimony, had 
been observed. 

Though the bride was no perfect beauty, yet, as there 
were none at the court of Holland who eclipsed her, the 
duke, during the first endearments of matrimony, was 
so far from repenting of it, that he seemed only to wish 
for the king's restoration that he might have an oppor- 
tunity of declaring it with splendor ; but when he saw 
himself enjoying a rank which placed him so near the 
throne ; when the possession of Miss Hyde afforded him 

* The material facts in this narrative are confirmed by Lord Claren- 
don. — Continuation of his Life, p. 33. It is difficult to speak of the 
persons concerned in this infamous transaction without some degree of 
asperity, notwithstanding they are, by a strange perversion of language, 
styled, all men of honor. 



186 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

no new charms ; when England, so abounding in beau- 
ties, displayed all that was charming and lovely in the 
court of the king, his brother ; and when he considered 
he was the only prince, who, from such superior eleva- 
tion, had descended so low, he began to reflect upon it. 
On the one hand, his marriage appeared to him particu- 
larly ill suited in every respect : he recollected that Jer- 
myn had not engaged him in an intimacy with Miss 
Hyde, until he had convinced him, by several different 
circumstances, of the facility of succeeding : he looked 
upon his marriage as an infringement of that duty and 
obedience he owed to the king; the indignation with 
which the court, and even the whole kingdom, would 
receive the account of his marriage presented itself to his 
imagination, together with the impossibility of obtaining 
the king's consent to such an act, which for a thousand 
reasons he would be obliged to refuse. On the other 
hand, the tears and despair of poor Miss Hyde presented 
themselves ; and still more than that, he felt a remorse 
of conscience, the scruples of which began from that 
time to rise up against him. 

In the midst of this perplexity he opened his heart to 
Lord Falmouth, and consulted with him what method 
he ought to pursue: he could not have applied to a better 
man for his own interests, nor to a worse for Miss Hyde's; 
for at first, Falmouth maintained not only that he was not 
married, but that it was even impossible that he could 
ever have formed such a thought; that any marriage was 
invalid for him, which was made without the king's con- 
sent, even if the party was a suitable match : but that it 
was a mere jest, even to think of the daughter of an insig- 
nificant lawyer, whom the favor of his sovereign had 
lately made a peer of the realm, without any noble 
blood, and chancellor, without any capacity ; that as for 
his scruples, he had only to give ear to some gentlemen 
whom he could introduce, who would thoroughly inform 
him of Miss Hyde's conduct before he became acquainted 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 187 

with her; and provided he did not tell them that he really 
was married, he would soon have sufficient grounds to 
come to a determination. 

The Duke of York consented, and Lord Falmouth, 
having assembled both his council and his witnesses, 
conducted them to his Royal Highness' s cabinet, after 
having instructed them how to act: these gentlemen 
were the Earl of Arran, Jermyn, Talbot, and Killegrew, 
all men of honor ; but who infinitely preferred the 
Duke of York's interest to Miss Hyde's reputation, and 
who, besides, were greatly dissatisfied, as well as 
the whole court, at the insolent authority of the prime 
minister. 

The duke having told them, after a sort of preamble, 
that although they could not be ignorant of his affection 
for Miss Hyde, yet they might be unacquainted with the 
engagements his tenderness for her had induced him to 
contract; that he thought himself obliged to perform all 
the promises he had made her; but as the innocence of 
persons of her age was generally exposed to court scandal, 
and as certain reports, whether false or true, had been 
spread abroad on the subject of her conduct, he con- 
jured them as his friends, and charged them upon their 
duty, to tell him sincerely everything they knew upon 
the subject, since he was resolved to make their evidence 
the rule of his conduct towards her. They all appeared 
rather reserved at first, and seemed not to dare to give 
their opinions upon an affair of so serious and delicate a 
nature ; but the Duke of York having renewed his en- 
treaties, each began to relate the particulars of what he 
knew, and perhaps of more than he knew, of poor Miss 
Hyde ; nor did they omit any circumstance necessary to 
strengthen the evidence. For instance the Earl of Arran, 
who spoke first, deposed, that in the gallery at Honslaer- 
dyk, where the Countess of Ossory, his sister-in-law, and 
Jermyn, were playing at nine-pins, Miss Hyde, pretend- 
ing to be sick, retired to a chamber at the end of 



188 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

the gallery ; that he, the deponent, had followed her, 
and having cut her lace, to give a greater probability to 
the pretence of the vapors, he had acquitted himself to 
the best of his abilities, both to assist and to console 
her. 

Talbot said, that she had made an appointment with 
him in the chancellor's cabinet, while he was in council; 
and, that, not paying so much attention to what was 
upon the table as to what they were engaged in, they 
had spilled a bottle full of ink upon a despatch of four 
pages, and that the king's monkey, which was blamed 
for this accident, had been a long time in disgrace. 

Jermyn mentioned many places where he had received 
long and favorable audiences: however, all these articles 
of accusation amounted only to some delicate familiari- 
ties, or at most, to what is generally denominated the 
innocent part of an intrigue; but Killegrew, who wished 
to surpass these trivial depositions, boldly declared that 
he had had the honor of being upon the most intimate 
terms with her: he was of a sprightly and witty humor, 
and had the art of telling a story in the most entertain- 
ing manner, by the graceful and natural turn he could 
give it: he affirmed that he had found the critical minute 
in a certain closet built over the water, for a purpose 
very different from that of giving ease to the pains of 
love: that three or four swans had been witnesses to his 
happiness, and might perhaps have been witnesses 
to the happiness of many others, as the lady frequently 
repaired to that place, and was particularly delighted 
with it. 

The Duke of York found this last accusation greatly 
out of bounds, being convinced he himself had sufficient 
proofs of the contrary : he therefore returned thanks to 
these officious informers for their frankness, ordered 
them to be silent for the future upon what they had been 
telling him, and immediately passed into the king's 
apartment. 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 189 

As soon as he had entered the cabinet, L,ord Falmouth, 
who had followed him, related what had passed to the 
Earl of Ossory, whom he met in the presence chamber : 
they strongly suspected what was the subject of the 
conversation of the two brothers, as it was long; and the 
Duke of York appeared to be in such agitation when he 
came out, that they no longer doubted that the result 
had been unfavorable for poor Miss Hyde. L,ord Fal- 
mouth began to be affected for her disgrace, and to 
relent that he had been concerned in it, when the Duke 
of York told him and the Earl of Ossory to meet him in 
about an hour's time at the chancellor's. 

They were rather surprised that he should have the 
cruelty himself to announce such a melancholy piece of 
news : they found his Royal Highness at the appointed 
hour in Miss Hyde's chamber: a few tears trickled down 
her cheeks, which she endeavored to restrain. The 
chancellor, leaning against the wall, appeared to them to 
be puffed up with something, which they did not doubt 
was rage and despair. The Duke of York said to them, 
with that serene and pleasant countenance with which 
men generally announce good news: "As you are the 
two men of the court whom I most esteem, lam desirous 
you should first have the honor of paying your com- 
pliments to the Duchess of York: there she is." 

Surprise was of no use, and astonishment was unsea- 
sonable on the present occasion : they were, however, so 
greatly possessed with both surprise and astonishment, 
that in order to conceal it, they immediately fell on their 
knees to kiss her hand, which she gave to them with as 
much majesty as if she had been used to it all her life. 

The next day the news was made public, and the 
whole court was eager to pay her that respect, from a 
sense of duty, which in the end became very sincere. 

The petits-maitres who had spoken against her, seeing 
their intentions disappointed, were not a little embar- 
rassed. Women are seldom accustomed to forgive 



190 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

injuries of this nature ; and, if they promise themselves 
the pleasure of revenge, when they gain the power, they 
seldom forget it : in the present case, however, the fears 
of these petits-maitres were their only punishment. 

The Duchess of York, being fully informed of all that 
was said in the cabinet concerning her, instead of show- 
ing the least resentment, studied to distinguish, by all 
manner of kindness and good offices, those who had at- 
tacked her in so sensible a part ; nor did she ever 
mention it to them but in order to praise their zeal, and 
to tell them ' ' that nothing was a greater proof of the 
attachment of a man of honor, than his being more solic- 
itous for the interest of his friend or master, than for his 
own reputation: " a remarkable example of prudence and 
moderation, not only for the»fair sex, but even for those 
who value themselves most upon their philosophy among 
the men. 

The Duke of York, having quieted his conscience by 
the declaration of his marriage, thought that he was en- 
titled, by this generous effort, to give way a little to his 
inconstancy: he therefore immediately seized upon what- 
ever he could first lay his hands upon : this was L,ady 
Carnegy,* who had been in several other hands. She 
was still tolerably handsome, and her disposition, natu- 
rally inclined to tenderness, did not oblige her new lover 
long to languish. Everything coincided with their 
wishes for some time : Lord Carnegy, her husband, was 
in Scotland ; but his father dying suddenly, he as sud- 
denly returned with the title of Southesk, which his 
wife detested ; but which she took more patiently than 
she received the news of his return. Some private inti- 
mation had been given him of the honor that was done 
him in his absence : nevertheless, he did not show his 
jealousy at first ; but, as he was desirous to be satisfied 



* Anne, daughter of William, Duke of Hamilton, and wife of Robert 
Carnegy, Earl of Southesk. 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 191 

of the reality of the fact, he kept a strict watch over his 
wife's actions. The Duke of York and her ladyship had 
for some time been upon such terms of intimacy as not 
to pass their time in frivolous amusements ; however, the 
husband's return obliged them to maintain some de- 
corum: he therefore never went to her house, but in form, 
that is to say, always accompanied by some friend or other, 
to give his amours at least the appearance of a visit. 

About this time Talbot * returned from Portugal : this 
connection had taken place during his absence; and with- 
out knowing who Lady Southesk was, he had been in- 
formed that his master was in love with her. 

A few days after his arrival, he was carried, merely to 
keep up appearances, to her house by the duke; and after 
being introduced, and some compliments having been 
paid on both sides, he thought it his duty to give his 
Royal Highness an opportunity to pay his compliments, 
and accordingly retired into the ante-chamber, which 
looked into the street, and placed himself at the window 
to view the people as they passed. 

He was one of the best meaning men in the world on 
such occasions ; but was so subject to forgetfulness, and 
absence of mind, that he once forgot, and left behind 
him at London a complimentary letter which the duke 
had given him for the Infanta of Portugal, and never 
recollected it till he was going to his audience. 

He stood sentry, as we have before said, very attentive 
to his instructions, when he saw a coach stop at the door, 
without being in the least concerned at it, and still less, 
at a man whom he saw get out of it, and whom he imme- 
diately heard coming up-stairs. 

The devil, who ought to be civil upon such occasions, 
forgot himself in the present instance, and brought up 
Lord Southesk in propria persond: his Royal Highness' s 
equipage had been sent home, because my lady had as- 



* Afterwards Duke of Tyrconnel. 



192 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

sured him that her husband was gone to see a bear and 
a bull baiting, an entertainment in which he took great 
delight, and from whence he seldom returned until it 
was very late; so that Southesk, not seeing any equipage 
at the door, little imagined that he had such good com- 
pany in his house ; but if he was surprised to see Talbot 
carelessly lolling in his wife's ante-chamber, his surprise 
was soon over. Talbot, who had not seen him since 
they were in Flanders, and never supposing that he had 
changed his name : ' ' Welcome, Carnegy , welcome, my 
good fellow," said he, giving him his hand; "where 
the devil have you been, that I have never been able to 
set eyes on you since we were at Brussels ? What busi- 
ness brought you here ? Do you likewise wish to see 
Lady Southesk ? If this is your intention, my poor 
friend, you may go away again ; for I must inform you, 
the Duke of York is in love with her, and I will tell 
you in confidence, that, at this very time, he is in her 
chamber. ' ' 

Southesk, confounded as one may suppose, had no 
time to answer all these fine questions : Talbot, there- 
fore, attended him down-stairs as his friend ; and, as his 
humble servant, advised him to seek for a mistress else- 
where. Southesk, not knowing what else to do at that 
time, returned to his coach ; and Talbot, overjoyed at 
the adventure, impatiently waited for the duke's return, 
that he might acquaint him with it ; but he was very 
much surprised to find that the story afforded no pleas- 
ure to those who had the principal share in it ; and his 
greatest concern was, that Carnegy had changed his 
name, as if only to draw him into such a confidence. 

This accident broke off a commerce which the Duke 
of York did not much regret ; and indeed it was happy 
for him that he became indifferent ; for the traitor 
Southesk meditated a revenge,* whereby, without using 

* Bishop Burnet, taking notice of the Duke of York's amours, says : 




(LJ¥nsWse/, Q2^wsn£&^/C& ^04t£ried&/. 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 193 

either assassination or poison, he would have obtained 
some satisfaction upon those who had injured him, if the 
connection had continued any longer. 

He went to the most infamous places, to seek for the 
most infamous disease, which he met with ; but his re- 
venge was only half completed ; for after he had gone 
through every remedy to get quit of his disease, his 
lady did but return him his present, having no more 
connection with the person for whom it was so indus- 
triously prepared. 

Lady Robarts * was then in the zenith of her glory ; 



"A story was set about, and generally believed, that the Earl of South- 
esk, that had married a daughter of the Duke of Hamilton, suspecting 
some familiarities between the duke and his wife, had taken a sure 
method to procure a disease to himself, which he communicated to his 
wife, and was, by that means, sent round till it came to the duchess. 
Lord Southesk was, for some years, not ill pleased to have this believed. 
It looked like a peculiar strain of revenge, with which he seemed 
much delighted. But I know he has, to some of his friends, denied the 
whole of the story very solemnly."— History of his Own Times, vol. 
i., p. 319. It is worthy of notice that the passage in the text was 
•omitted in most editions of Grammont, and retained in that of Straw- 
berry-hill, in 1772. 

* Lord Orford says this lady was Sarah, daughter of John Bodville 
of Bodville castle, in Caernarvonshire, wife of Robert Robarts, who 
died in the lifetime of his father, and was eldest son of John, Earl of 
Radnor. This, however, may be doubted. There was no Earl of Rad- 
nor until the year 1679, which was after the date of most, if not all, 
the transactions related in this work ; consequently, no other person, 
who could be called Lord Robarts, than John, the second lord, who 
was created Earl of Radnor, with whose character several of the quali- 
ties here enumerated, particularly his age, moroseness, etc., will be 
found to agree. Supposing this to be admitted, the lady will be Isa- 
bella, daughter of Sir John Smith Knight, second wife of the above 
John, Lord Robarts, whose character is thus portrayed by Lord Clar- 
endon : " Though of good understanding, he was of so morose a nature, 
that it was no easy matter to treat with him. He had some pedantic 
parts of learning, which made his other parts of judgment the worst. 
He was naturally proud and imperious, which humor was increased by 
an ill education ; for, excepting some years spent in the Inns of Court, 
he might very justly be said to have been born and bred in Cornwall. 
"When lord-deputy in Ireland, he received the information of the chief 
13 



194 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

her beauty was striking; yet, notwithstanding the bright- 
ness of the finest complexion, with all the bloom of 
youth, and with every requisite for inspiring desire, she 
nevertheless was not attractive. The Duke of York, 
however, would probably have been successful if diffi- 
culties, almost insurmountable, had not disappointed his 
good intentions: Lord Robarts, her husband, was an old, 
snarling, troublesome, peevish fellow, in love with her 
to distraction, and to complete her misery, a perpetual 
attendant on her person. 

She perceived his Royal Highness' s attachment to her, 
and seemed as if she was inclined to be grateful : this 
redoubled his eagerness, and every outward mark of 
tenderness he could possibly show her ; but the watchful 
husband redoubling his zeal and assiduity, as he found 
the approaches advance, every art was practised to ren- 
der him tractable : several attacks were made upon his 
avarice and his ambition. Those who possessed the 
greatest share of his confidence, insinuated to him that it 
was his own fault if Lady Robarts, who was so worthy of 
being at court, was not received into some considerable 
post, either about the queen or the duchess : he was 
offered to be made Lord Lieutenant of the county where 
his estate was ; or to have the management of the Duke 
of York's revenues in Ireland, of which he should have 
the entire disposal, provided he immediately set out to 
take possession of his charge ; and having accomplished 
it, he might return as soon as ever he thought proper. 

persons there so negligently, and gave his answers so scornfully, that 
they besought the king that they might not be obliged to attend him 
any more : but he was not a man that was to be disgraced and throwii 
off without much inconvenience and hazard. He had parts, which in 
council and parliament, were very troublesome ; for, of all men alive, 
who had so few friends, he had the most followers. They who con- 
versed most with him knew him to have many humors which were 
very intolerable ; they who were but little acquainted with him took 
him to be a man of much knowledge, and called his morosity gravity."' 
— Continuation of Clarendon, p. 102. 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 195 

He perfectly well understood the meaning of these 
proposals, and was fully apprised of the advantages he 
mio-ht reap from them : in vain did ambition and avarice 
hold out their allurements ; he was deaf to all their 
temptations, nor could ever the old fellow be persuaded 
to be made a cuckold. It is not always an aversion to, 
or a dread of this distinction, which preserves us from it: 
of this her husband was very sensible ; therefore, under 
the pretence of a pilgrimage to Saint Winifred, the vir- 
gin and martyr, who was said to cure women of barren- 
ness, he did not rest, until the highest mountains in 
Wales were between his wife and the person who had 
designed to perform this miracle in London, after his 
departure. 

The duke was for some time entirely taken up with 
the pleasures of the chase, and only now and then en- 
gaged in those of love ; but his taste having undergone 
a change in this particular, and the remembrance of Lady 
Robarts wearing off by degrees, his eyes and wishes were 
turned towards Miss Brook ; and it was in the height of 
this pursuit that Lady Chesterfield threw herself into his 
arms, as we shall see by resuming the sequel of her ad- 
ventures. 

The Earl of Bristol,* ever restless and ambitious, had 

* George Digby. The account here given of the practices of this 
nobleman receives confirmation from Lord Clarendon, who observes 
of him, "that he had left no way unattempted to render himself 
gracious to the king, by saying and doing all that might be acceptable 
unto him, and contriving such meetings and jollities as he was pleased 
with." — Continuation of his Life, p. 208. Lord Orford says of him, 
that "his life was one contradiction. He wrote against popery, and 
embraced it ; he was a zealous opposer of the court, and a sacrifice to 
it ; was conscientiously converted in the midst of his prosecution of 
Lord Strafford, and was most unconscientiously a prosecutor of Lord 
Clarendon. With great parts, he always hurt himself and his friends ; 
with romantic bravery, he was always an unsuccessful commander. 
He spoke for the Test Act, though a Roman Catholic, and addicted 
himself to astrology on the birthday of true philosophy."— Catalogue 
of Royal and Noble Authors, vol. ii., p. 25. The histories of England 



196 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

put in practice every art to possess himself of the king's 
favor. As this is the same Digby whom Count Bussy 
mentions in his annals, it will be sufficient to say that he 
was not at all changed : he knew that love and pleasure 
had possession of a master, whom he himself governed, 
in defiance of the chancellor ; thus he was continually 
giving entertainments at his house ; and luxury and 
elegance seemed to rival each other in those nocturnal 
feasts, which always lead to other enjoyments. The two 
Miss Brooks, his relations, were always of those parties ; 
they were both formed by nature to excite love in others, 
as well as to be susceptible of it themselves ; they were 
just what the king wanted : the earl, from this com- 
mencement, was beginning to entertain a good opinion 
of his project, when Lady Castlemaine, who had lately 
gained entire possession of the king's heart, was not in a 
humor, at that time, to share it with another, as she did 
very indiscreetly afterwards, despising Miss Stewart. 
As soon, therefore, as she received intimation of these 
secret practices, under pretence of attending the king in 
his parties, she entirely disconcerted them ; so that the 
earl was obliged to lay aside his projects, and Miss 
Brook to discontinue her advances. The king did not 
even dare to think any more on this subject ; but his 
brother was pleased to look after what he neglected; and 
Miss Brook accepted the offer of his heart, until it pleased 
heaven to dispose of her otherwise, which happened soon 
after in the following manner. 

Sir John Denham,* loaded with wealth as well as 



abound with the adventures of this inconsistent nobleman, who died, 
neither loved nor regretted by any party, in the year 1676. 

* That Sir John Denham "had passed his youth in the midst of those 
pleasures which people at that age indulge in without restraint," all 
his biographers seem to admit ; but, if our author is to be relied on, 
Wood's account of the date of his birth, 1615, must be erroneous. He 
was not loaded with years when he died, if that statement is true ; and 
so far from being seventy-nine when he married Miss Brook, he had 
not attained the age of more than fifty-three when he died. In this 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 197 

years, had passed his youth in the midst of those pleas- 
ures which people at that age indulge in without re- 
straint ; he was one of the brightest geniuses England 
ever produced, for wit and humor, and for brilliancy of 
composition : satirical and free in his poems, he spared 
neither frigid writers, nor jealous husbands, nor even 
their wives: every part abounded with the most poignant 
wit, and the most entertaining stories ; but his most 
delicate and spirited raillery turned generally against 
matrimony ; and, as if he wished to confirm, by his own 
example, the truth of what he had written in his youth, 
he married, at the age of seventy-nine, this Miss Brook 
of whom we are speaking, who was only eighteen. 

The Duke of York had rather neglected her for some 
time before ; but the circumstance of so unequal a match 
rekindled his ardor ; and she, on her part, suffered him 
to entertain hopes of an approaching bliss, which a 
thousand considerations had opposed before her mar- 
riage : she wished to belong to the court ; and for the 
promise of being made lady of the bedchamber to the 
duchess, she was upon the point of making him another 
promise, or of immediately performing it, if required, 
when, in the middle of this treaty, Lady Chesterfield was 
tempted, by her evil genius, to rob her of her conquest, 
in order to disturb all the world. 

However, as Lady Chesterfield could not see the Duke 
of York, except in public assemblies, she was under the 
necessity of making the most extravagant advances, in 
order to seduce him from his former connection ; and as 
he was the most unguarded ogler of his time, the whole 
court was informed of the intrigue before it was well 
begun. 



particular, I am inclined to doubt the accuracy of Wood, who omits 
to mention that Sir John had a former wife, by whom he had a daugh- 
ter. Sir John died 19th March, 1668, and was buried in Westminster- 
abbey. 



198 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

Those who appeared the most attentive to their con- 
duct were not the least interested in it. Hamilton and 
Lord Chesterfield watched them narrowly ; but Lady 
Denham, vexed that Lady Chesterfield should have 
stepped in before her, took the liberty of railing against 
her rival with the greatest bitterness. Hamilton had 
hitherto flattered himself that vanity alone had engaged 
Lady Chesterfield in this adventure ; but he was soon 
undeceived, whatever her indifference might have been 
when she first commenced this intrigue. We often pro- 
ceed farther than we at first intended, when we indulge 
ourselves in trifling liberties which we think of no con- 
sequence ; for though perhaps the heart, takes no part 
at the beginning, it seldom fails to be engaged in the end. 

The court, as we have mentioned before, was an entire 
scene of gallantry and amusements, with all the polite- 
ness and magnificence which the inclinations of a prince 
naturally addicted to tenderness and pleasure could sug- 
gest : the beauties were desirous of charming, and the 
men endeavored to please : all studied to set themselves 
off to the best advantage : some distinguished themselves 
by dancing ; others by show and magnificence ; some 
by their wit, many by their amours, but few by their 
constancy. There was a certain Italian at court, famous 
for the guitar : he had a genius for music, and he was 
the only man who could make anything of the guitar : 
his style of play was so full of grace and tenderness, that 
he would have given harmony to the most discordant 
instruments. The truth is, nothing was so difficult as 
to play like this foreigner. The king's relish for his 
compositions had brought the instrument so much into 
vogue, that every person played upon it, well or ill ; and 
you were as sure to see a guitar on a lady's toilet as rouge 
or patches. The Duke of York played upon it tolerably 
well, and the Earl of Arran like Francisco himself. 
This Francisco had composed a saraband, which either 
charmed or infatuated every person ; for the whole 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 199 

guitarery at court were trying at it ; and God knows 
what an universal strumming there was. The Duke of 
York, pretending not to be perfect in it, desired Lord 
Arran to play it to him. Lady Chesterfield had the best 
guitar in England. The Earl of Arran, who was de- 
sirous of playing his best, conducted his Royal Highness 
to his sister's apartments : she was lodged at court, at 
her father's, the Duke of Ormond's ; and this wonderful 
guitar was lodged there too. Whether this visit had 
been preconcerted or not, I do not pretend to say ; but 
it is certain that they found both the lady and the guitar 
at home : they likewise found there Lord Chesterfield, 
:so much surprised at this unexpected visit, that it was a 
considerable time before he thought of rising from his 
seat to receive them with due respect. 

Jealousy, like a malignant vapor, now seized upon his 
brain : a thousand suspicions, blacker than ink, took 
possession of his imagination, and were continually in- 
creasing ; for, whilst the brother played upon the guitar 
to the duke, the sister ogled and accompanied him with 
her eyes, as if the coast had been clear, and no enemy to 
observe them. This saraband was at least repeated 
twenty times : the duke declared it was played to per- 
fection : Lady Chesterfield found fault with the compo- 
sition ; but her husband, who clearly perceived that he 
was the person played upon, thought it a most detestable 
piece. However, though he was in the last agony at 
being obliged to curb his passion while others gave a free 
scope to theirs, he was resolved to find out the drift of the 
visit ; but it was not in his power : for, having the honor 
to be chamberlain to the queen, a messenger came to re- 
quire his immediate attendance on Her Majesty. His 
first thought was to pretend sickness : the second to sus- 
pect that the queen, who sent for him at such an un- 
seasonable time, was in the plot ; but at last, after all the 
extravagant ideas of a suspicious man, and .all the irreso- 
lutions of a jealous husband, he was obliged to go. 



200 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

We may easily imagine what his state of mind was 
when he arrived at the palace. Alarms are to the jealous 
what disasters are to the unfortunate : they seldom come 
alone, but form a series of persecution. He was informed 
that he was sent for to attend the queen at an audience 
she gave to seven or eight Muscovite ambassadors : he had 
scarce begun to curse the Muscovites, when his brother- 
in-law appeared, and drew upon himself all the impre- 
cations he bestowed upon the embassy : he no longer 
doubted his being in the plot with the two persons he 
had left together, and in his heart sincerely wished him 
such recompense for his good offices as such good offices 
deserved. It was with great difficulty that he restrained 
himself from immediately acquainting him what was 
his opinion of such conduct : he thought that what he 
had already seen was a sufficient proof of his wife's infi- 
delity ; but before the end of the very same day, some 
circumstances occurred which increased his suspicions, 
and persuaded him that they had taken advantage of his 
absence, and of the honorable officiousness of his brother- 
in-law. He passed, however, that night with tranquil- 
lity ; but the next morning, being reduced to the neces- 
sity either of bursting or giving vent to his sorrows and 
conjectures, he did nothing but think and walk about 
the room until Park-time. He went to court, seemed 
very busy, as if seeking for some person or other, imag- 
ining that people guessed at the subject of his uneasi- 
ness : he avoided everybody, but at length meeting with 
Hamilton, he thought he was the very man that he 
wanted ; and, having desired him to take an airing with 
him in Hyde Park, he took him up in his coach, and 
they arrived at the Ring, without a word having passed' 
between them. 

Hamilton, who saw him as yellow as jealousy itself, 
and particularly thoughtful, imagined that he had just 
discovered what all the world had perceived long before ;■ 
when Chesterfield, after a broken, insignificant preamble,. 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 201 

asked him how he succeeded with Lady Castlemaine. 
Hamilton, who very well saw that he meant nothing by 
this question, nevertheless thanked him ; and as he was 
thinking of an answer: "Your cousin," said the earl, 
"is extremely coquettish, and I have some reason to 
suppose she is not so prudent as she ought to be. ' ' Ham- 
ilton thought the last charge a little too severe ; and as 
he was endeavoring to refute it : "Good God 1" said my 
lord, "you see, as well as the whole court, what airs she 
gives herself : husbands are always the last people that 
are spoken to about those affairs that concern them the 
most ; but they are not always the last to perceive it 
themselves : though you have made me your confidant 
in other matters, yet I am not at all surprised you have 
concealed this from me ; but as I natter myself with hav- 
ing some share in your esteem, I should be sorry you 
should think me such a fool as to be incapable of seeing, 
though I am so complaisant as not to express my senti- 
ments : nevertheless, I find that affairs are now carried 
on with such barefaced boldness, that at length I find I 
shall be forced to take some course or other. God for- 
bid that I should act the ridiculous part of a jealous hus- 
band : the character is odious ; but then I do not intend, 
through an excess of patience, to be made the jest of the 
town. Judge, therefore, from what I am going to tell 
you, whether I ought to sit down unconcerned, or 
whether I ought to take measures for the preservation 
of my honor. 

' ' His Royal Highness honored me yesterday by a visit 
to my wife." Hamilton started at this beginning. 
"Yes," continued the other, " he did give himself that 
trouble, and Lord Arran took upon himself that of 
bringing him: do not you wonder that a man of his birth 
should act such a part ? What advancement can he ex- 
pect from one who employs him in such base services ? 
But we have long known him to be one of the silliest 
creatures in England, with his guitar, and his other 



202 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

whims and follies." Chesterfield, after this short sketch 
of his brother-in-law's merit, began to relate the obser- 
vations he had made during the visit, and asked Hamil- 
ton what he thought of his cousin Arran, who had so 
obligingly left them together. ' ' This may appear sur- 
prising to you," continued he, "but hear me out, and 
judge whether I have reason to think that the close of 
this pretty visit passed in perfect innocence. Lady 
Chesterfield is amiable, it must be acknowledged ; but 
she is far from being such a miracle of beauty as she 
supposes herself : you know she has ugly feet ; but per- 
haps you are not acquainted that she has still worse legs. ' ' 
" Pardon me," said Hamilton, within himself: and the 
other, continuing the description : ' ' her legs, ' ' said his 
lordship, ' ' are short and thick ; and, to remedy these de- 
fects as much as possible, she seldom wears any other 
than green stockings." 

Hamilton could not for his life imagine the drift of all 
this discourse, and Chesterfield, guessing his thoughts : 
" Have a little patience," said he ; "I went yesterday to 
Miss Stewart's, after the audience of those d — d Musco- 
vites: the king arrived there just before me; and as if the 
duke had sworn to pursue me wherever I went that day, 
he came in just after me. The conversation turned upon 
the extraordinary appearance of the ambassadors. I 
know not where that fool Crofts had heard that all these 
Muscovites had handsome wives; and that all their wives 
had handsome legs. Upon this the king maintained 
that no woman ever had such handsome legs as Miss 
Stewart; and she to prove the truth of His Majesty's as- 
sertion, with the greatest imaginable ease, immediately 
showed her leg above the knee. Some were ready to 
prostrate themselves, in order to adore its beauty ; for 
indeed none can be handsomer; but the duke alone began 
to criticise upon it. He contended that it was too slen- 
der, and that as for himself, he would give nothing for a 
leg that was not thicker and shorter, and concluded by 




M ^Xfew&s^fy /(TU^J-AsUi/y/ 



V. /. / 






'>/ =ZeoJ. 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 203 

saying that no leg was worth anything without green 
stockings. Now this, in my opinion, was a sufficient 
demonstration that he had just seen green stockings, and 
had them fresh in his remembrance. ' ' 

Hamilton was at a loss what countenance to put on 
during a narrative which raised in him nearly the same 
conjectures ; he shrugged up his shoulders, and faintly 
said that appearances were often deceitful ; that Lady 
Chesterfield had the foible of all beauties, who place their 
merit on the number of their admirers ; and whatever airs 
she might imprudently have given herself, in order not 
to discourage his Royal Highness, there was no ground to 
suppose that she would indulge him in any greater lib- 
erties to engage him : but in vain was it that he endeav- 
ored to give that consolation to his friend which he did 
not feel himself. Chesterfield plainly perceived that he 
did not think of what he was saying; however, he thought 
himself much obliged to him for the interest he seemed 
to take in his concerns. 

Hamilton was in haste to go home to vent his spleen 
and resentment in a letter to his cousin. The style of 
this billet was very different from those which he for- 
merly was accustomed to write to her : reproaches, bitter 
expostulations, tenderness, menaces, and all the effusions 
of a lover who thinks he has reason to complain, com- 
posed this epistle ; which, for fear of accidents, he went 
to deliver himself. 

Never did she before appear so lovely, and never did 
her eyes speak so kindly to him as at this moment : his 
heart quite relented ; but he was determined not to lose 
all the fine things he had said in his letter. In receiving 
it, she squeezed his hand : this action completely dis- 
armed him, and he would have given his life to have 
had this letter again. It appeared to him at this instant 
that all the grievances he complained of were visionary 
and groundless : he looked upon her husband as a mad- 
man and an impostor, and quite the reverse of what he 



204 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

supposed him to be a few minutes before ; but this re- 
morse came a little too late : he had delivered his billet, 
and Lady Chesterfield had shown such impatience and 
eagerness to read it as soon as she had got it that all 
circumstances seemed to conspire to justify her, and to 
confound him. She managed to get quit, some way or 
other, of some troublesome visitors, to slip into her 
closet. He thought himself so culpable that he had not 
the assurance to wait her return : he withdrew with the 
rest of the company ; but he did not dare to appear 
before her the next day, to have an answer to his letter : 
however, he met her at court ; and this was the first 
time, since the commencement of their amour, that he 
did not seek for her. He stood at a distance, with down- 
cast looks, and appeared in such terribe embarrassment 
that his* condition was sufficient to raise laughter or to 
cause pity, when Lady Chesterfield approaching, thus 
accosted him: "Confess," said she, "that you are in 
as foolish a situation as any man of sense can be : you 
wish you had not written to me : you are desirous of an 
answer : you hope for none : yet you equally wish for 
and dread it : I have, however, written you one." She 
had not time to say more ; but the few words she had 
spoken were accompanied with such an air, and such a 
look, as to make him believe that it was Venus with all 
her graces who had addressed him. He was near her 
when she sat down to cards, and as he was puzzling 
himself to devise by what means he should get this 
answer, she desired him to lay her gloves and fan down 
somewhere : he took them, and with them the billet in 
question ; and as he had perceived nothing severe or 
angry in the conversation he had with her, he hastened 
to open her letter, and read as follows : 

" Your transports are so ridiculous that it is doing 
you a favor to attribute them to an excess of tenderness, 
which turns your head : a man, without doubt, must 
have a great inclination to be jealous, to entertain suck 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 205 

•an idea of the person you mention. Good God ! what a 
lover to have caused uneasiness to a man of genius, and 
what a genius to have got the better of mine ! Are not 
you ashamed to give any credit to the visions of a jealous 
fellow who brought nothing else with him from Italy ? 
Is it possible that the story of the green stockings, upon 
which he has founded his suspicions, should have im- 
posed upon you, accompanied as it is with such pitiful 
circumstances ? Since he has made you his confidant, 
why did not he boast of breaking in pieces my poor 
harmless guitar? This exploit, perhaps, might have 
convinced you more than all the rest : recollect yourself, 
and if you are really in love with me, thank fortune for 
a groundless jealousy, which diverts to another quarter 
the attention he might pay to my attachment for the most 
amiable and the most dangerous man of the court." 

Hamilton was ready to- weep for joy at these endear- 
ing marks of kindness, of which he thought himself so 
unworthy: he was not satisfied with kissing, in raptures, 
every part of this billet; he also kissed several times her 
gloves and her fan. Play being over, Lady Chesterfield 
received them from his hands, and read in his eyes the 
joy that her billet had raised in his heart. Nor was he 
satisfied with expressing his raptures, only by looks : he 
hastened home, and wrote to her at least four times as 
much. How different was this letter from the other ! 
Though perhaps not so well written ; for one does not 
show so much wit in suing for pardon as in venting re- 
proaches, and it seldom happens that the soft, languish- 
ing style of a love-letter is so penetrating as that of 
invective. 

Be that as it may, his peace was made : their past 
quarrel gave new life to their correspondence ; and Lady 
Chesterfield, to make him as easy as he had before been 
distrustful, expressed on every occasion a feigned con- 
tempt for his rival, and a sincere aversion for her hus- 
band. 



206 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAM MONT. 

So great was his confidence in her, that he consented 
she should show in public some marks of attention to 
the duke, in order to conceal as much as possible their 
private intelligence. Thus, at this time nothing dis- 
turbed his peace of mind, but his impatience of finding 
a favorable opportunity for the completion of his desires: 
he thought it was in her power to command it ; but she 
excused herself on account of several difficulties which 
she enumerated to him, and which she was desirous he 
should remove by his industry and attentions. 

This silenced his complaints ; but whilst he was en- 
deavoring to surmount these obstacles, still wondering 
how it was possible that two persons who were so well 
disposed to each other, and who were agreed to make 
each other happy, could not put their designs in exe- 
cution, accident discovered an unexpected adventure, 
which left him no room to doubt, either of the happi- 
ness of his rival, or of the perfidy of his mistress. 

Misfortunes often fall light when most feared; and fre- 
quently prove heaviest when merited, and when least 
suspected. Hamilton was in the middle of the most 
tender and passionate letter he had ever written to L,ady 
Chesterfield, when her husband came to announce to 
him the particulars of this last discovery : he came so 
suddenly upon him, that he had only just time to con- 
ceal his amorous epistle among his other papers. His 
heart and mind were still so full of what he was writing 
to his cousin, that her husband's complaints against 
her, at first, were scarce attended to ; besides, in his 
opinion, he had come in the most unfortunate moment 
on all accounts. 

He was, however, obliged to listen to him, and he 
soon entertained quite different sentiments : he appeared 
almost petrified with astonishment, while the earl was 
relating to him circumstances of such an extravagant in- 
discretion, as seemed to him quite incredible, notwith- 
standing the particulars of the fact. " You have reason 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 207 

to be surprised at it," said my lord, concluding his story; 
' ' but if you doubt the truth of what I tell you, it will 
be easy for you to find evidence that will convince you ; 
for the scene of their tender familiarities was no less pub- 
lic than the room where the queen plays at cards, which, 
while her majesty was at play, was, God knows, pretty 
well crowded. Lady Denham was the first who dis- 
covered what they thought would pass unperceived in 
the crowd ; and you may very well judge how secret she 
would keep such a circumstance. The truth is, she ad- 
dressed herself to me first of all, as I entered the room, 
to tell me that I should give my wife a little advice, as 
other people might take notice of what I might see my- 
self, if I pleased. 

' Your cousin was at play, as I before told you : the 
duke was sitting next to her : I know not what was be- 
come of his hand ; but I am sure that no one could see 
his arm below the elbow : I was standing behind them, 
just in the place that Lady Denham had quitted : the 
duke turning round perceived me, and was so much dis- 
turbed at my presence, that he almost undressed my lady 
in pulling away his hand. I know not whether they 
perceived that they were discovered ; but of this I am 
convinced, that Lady Denham will take care that every- 
body shall know it. I must confess to you, that my 
embarrassment is so great, that I cannot find words to 
express what I now feel : I should not hesitate one mo- 
ment what course to take, if I might be allowed to show 
my resentment against the person who has wronged me. 
As for her, I could manage her well enough, if, un- 
worthy as she is of any consideration, I had not still 
some regard for an illustrious family, that would be dis- 
tracted were I to resent such an injury as it deserves. 
In this particular you are interested yourself : you are 
my friend, and I make you my confidant in an affair of 
the greatest imaginable delicacy : let us then consult to- 
gether what is proper to be done in so perplexing and 
disagreeable a situation." 



208 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

Hamilton, if possible, more astonished, and more con- 
founded than himself, was far from being in a proper 
state to afford him advice on the present occasion : he 
listened to nothing but jealousy, and breathed nothing 
but revenge; but these emotions being somewhat abated, 
in hopes that there might be calumny, or at least exag- 
geration in the charges against L,ady Chesterfield, he 
desired her husband to suspend his resolutions, until he 
was more fully informed of the fact; assuring him, how- 
ever, that if he found the circumstances such as he had 
related, he should regard and consult no other interest 
than his. 

Upon this they parted ; and Hamilton found, on the 
first inquiry, that almost the whole court was informed 
of the adventure, to which every one added something 
in relating it. Vexation and resentment inflamed his 
heart, and by degrees extinguished every remnant of his 
former passion. 

He might easily have seen her, and have made her 
such reproaches as a man is generally inclined to do on 
such occasions ; but he was too much enraged to enter 
into any detail which might have led to an explanation: 
he considered himself as the only person essentially in- 
jured in this affair ; for he could never bring his mind 
to think that the injuries of the husband could be placed 
in competition with those of the lover. 

He hastened to Lord Chesterfield, in the transport of 
his passion, and told him that he had heard enough to 
induce him to give such advice, as he should follow him- 
self in the same situation, and that if he wished to save 
a woman so strongly prepossessed, and who perhaps had 
not yet lost all her innocence, though she had totally 
lost her reason, he ought not to delay one single instant, 
but immediately to carry her into the country with the 
greatest possible expedition, without allowing her the 
least time to recover her surprise. 

Lord Chesterfield readily agreed to follow this advice, 




(OyLt^cc^e^^y 



■czsCtszs/^ZJse, 



ii£j* . .., 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 209 

which he had already considered as the only counsel a 
friend could give him ; but his lady, who did not suspect 
he had made this last discovery of her conduct, thought 
he was joking with her, when he told her to prepare for 
going into the country in two days : she was the more 
induced to think so as it was in the very middle of an 
extremely severe winter ; but she soon perceived that he 
was in earnest : she knew from the air and manner of 
her husband that he thought he had sufficient reason to 
treat her in this imperious style ; and finding all her re- 
lations serious and cold to her complaint, she had no 
hope left in this universally abandoned situation but in 
the tenderness of Hamilton. She imagined she should 
hear from him the cause of her misfortunes, of which 
she was still totally ignorant, and that his love would 
invent some means or other to prevent a journey which 
she flattered herself would be even more affecting to him 
than to herself ; but she was expecting pity from a 
crocodile. 

At last, when she saw the eve of her departure was 
come, that every preparation was made for a long jour- 
ney ; that she was receiving farewell visits in form, and 
that still she heard nothing from Hamilton, both her 
hopes and her patience forsook her in this wretched situ- 
ation. A few tears perhaps might have afforded her some 
relief, but she chose rather to deny herself that comfort, 
than to give her husband so much satisfaction. Hamil- 
ton's conduct on this occasion appeared to her unac- 
countable ; and as he still never came near her, she found 
means to convey to him the following billet. 

"Is it possible that you should be one of those, who, 
without vouchsafing to tell me for what crime I am 
treated like a slave, suffer me to be dragged from so- 
ciety? What means your silence and indolence in a 
juncture wherein your tenderness ought most particu- 
larly to appear, and actively exert itself? I am upon the 
point of departing, and am ashamed to think that you 
14 



210 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

are the cause of my looking upon it with horror, as I 
have reason to believe that you are less concerned at it 
than any other person : do, at least, let me know to what 
place I am to be dragged ; what is to be done with me 
within a wilderness? and on what account you, like all 
the rest of the world, appear changed in your behavior 
towards a person whom all the world could not oblige 
to change with regard to you, if your weakness or your 
ingratitude did not render you unworthy of her tender- 
ness. ' ' 

This billet did but harden his heart, and make him 
more proud of his vengeance : he swallowed down full 
draughts of pleasure in beholding her reduced to despair, 
being persuaded that her grief and regret for her de- 
parture were on account of another person : he felt un- 
common satisfaction in having a share in tormenting her, 
and was particularly pleased with the scheme he had 
contrived to separate her from a rival upon the very point 
perhaps of being made happy. Thus fortified as he was 
against his natural tenderness, with all the severity of 
jealous resentment, he saw her depart with an indiffer- 
ence which he did not even endeavor to conceal from 
her : this unexpected treatment, joined to the complica- 
tion of her other misfortunes, had almost in reality 
plunged her into despair. 

The court was filled with the story of this adventure ; 
nobody was ignorant of the occasion of this sudden de- 
parture, but very few approved of Lord Chesterfield's 
conduct. In England they looked with astonishment 
upon a man who could be so uncivil as to be jealous of 
his wife ; and in the city of London it was a prodigy, till 
that time unknown, to see a husband have recourse to 
violent means, to prevent what jealousy fears, and what 
it always deserves. They endeavored, however, to ex- 
cuse poor Lord Chesterfield, as far as they could safely 
do it, without incurring the public odium, by laying all 
the blame on his bad education. This made all the 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 211 

mothers vow to God that none of their sons should ever 
set a foot in Italy, lest they should bring back with 
them that infamous custom of laying restraint upon their 
wives. 

As this story for a long time took up the attention of 
the court, the Chevalier de Grammont, who was not 
thoroughly acquainted with all the particulars, inveighed 
more bitterly than all the citizens of London put to- 
gether against this tyranny ; and it was upon this occa- 
sion that he produced new words to that fatal saraband 
which had unfortunately so great a share in the adven- 
ture. The Chevalier passed for the author ; but if Saint 
Evremond had any part in the composition, it certainly 
was greatly inferior to his other performances, as the 
reader will see in the following chapter. 




LADY ROBARTS. 




CHAPTER IX. 



Every man who believes that his honor depends upon' 
that of his wife is a fool who torments himself, and drives 
her to despair ; but he who, being naturally jealous, has- 
the additional misfortune of loving his wife, and who 
expects that she should only live for him, is a perfect 
madman, whom the torments of hell have actually taken, 
hold of in this world, and whom nobody pities. All 
reasoning and observation on these unfortunate circum- 
stances attending wedlock concur in this, that precaution 
is vain and useless before the evil, and revenge odious 
afterwards. 

The Spaniards, who tyrannize' over their wives, more 
by custom than from jealousy, content themselves with 
preserving the niceness of their honor by duennas, grates, 
and locks. The Italians, who are wary in their sus- 
picions, and vindictive in their resentments, pursue a 
different line of conduct : some satisfy themselves with, 
keeping their wives under locks which they think secure: 
others by ingenious precautions exceed whatever the 
Spaniards can invent for confining the fair sex ; but the 
generality are of opinion, that in either unavoidable 
danger or in manifest transgression, the surest way is to 
assassinate. 

But, ye courteous and indulgent nations, who, far 
(212) 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 213 

from admitting these savage and barbarous customs, give 
full liberty to your dear ribs, and commit the care of 
their virtue to their own discretion, you pass without 
alarms or strife your peaceful days, in all the enjoyments 
of domestic indolence ! 

It was certainly some evil genius that induced L,ord 
Chesterfield to distinguish himself from his patient and 
good-natured countrymen, and ridiculously to afford the 
world an opportunity of examining into the particulars 
of an adventure which would perhaps never have been 
known without the verge of the court, and which would 
everywhere have been forgotten in less than a month ; 
but now, as soon as ever he had turned his back, in 
order to march away with his prisoner, and the orna- 
ments she was supposed to have bestowed upon him, 
God only knows what a terrible attack there was made 
upon his rear: Rochester,* Middlesex,! Sedley,| Ether- 
edge^ and all the whole band of wits, exposed him in 



*John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester — "a man," as Lord Orford ob- 
serves, "whom the Muses were fond to inspire, and ashamed to avow ; 
and who practised, without the least reserve, that secret which can 
make verses more read for their defects than for their merits : " Noble 
Authors, vol. ii., p. 43 ; — was born, according to Burnet and Wood, in 
the month of April, 1648 ; but Gadbury, in his almanack for 1695, 
fixes the date on April 1, 1647, from the information of Lord Roches- 
ter himself. His father was Henry, Earl of Rochester, better known 
by the title of Lord Wilmot. He was educated at Wadham College, 
Oxford, and, in 1665, went to sea with the Earl of Sandwich, and dis- 
played a degree of valor which he never showed at any period after- 
wards. Bishop Burnet says, he " was naturally modest, till the court 
corrupted him. His wit had in it a peculiar brightness, to which none 
could ever arrive. He gave himself up to all sorts of extravagance, 
and to the wildest frolics that a wanton wit could devise. He would 
have gone about the streets as a beggar, and made love as a porter. 
He set up a stage as an Italian mountebank. He was for some years 
always drunk ; and was ever doing some mischief. The king loved his 
company, for the diversion it afforded, better than his person ; and 
there was no love lost between them. He took his revenges in many 
libels. He found out a footman that knew all the court ; and he fur- 
nished him with a red coat and a musquet, as a sentinel, and kept him 



214 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

numberless ballads, and diverted the public at his ex- 
pense. 

all the winter long, every night, at the doors of such ladies as he be- 
lieved might be in intrigues. In the court, a sentinel is little minded, 
and is believed to be posted by a captain of the guards to hinder a 
combat ; so this man saw who walked about and visited at forbidden 
hours. By this means Lord Rochester made many discoveries ; and 
when he was well furnished with materials, he used to retire into the 
country, for a month or two, to write libels. Once, being drunk, he 
intended to give the king a libel that he had written on some ladies ; 
but, by a mistake, he gave him one written on himself. He fell into 
an ill habit of body, and, in set fits of sickness, he had deep remorses ; 
for he was guilty both of much impiety and of great immoralities. 
But as he recovered, he threw these off, and turned again to his for- 
mer ill courses. In the last year of his life, I was much with him, and 
have written a book of what passed between him and me : I do verily 
believe, he was then so changed, that, if he had recovered, he would 
have made good all his resolutions." — History of his Own Times, vol. 
i., p. 372. On this book, mentioned by the bishop, Dr. Johnson pro- 
nounces the following eulogium : — that it is one "which the critic 
ought to read for its elegance, the philosopher for its arguments, and 
the saint for its piety. It were an injury to the reader to offer him an 
abridgement. " — Life of Rochester. Lord Rochester died July 26, 1 680. 
f At this time the Earl of Middlesex was Lionel, who died in 1674. 
The person intended by our author was Charles, then Lord Buckhurst, 
afterwards Earl of Middlesex, and, lastly, Duke of Dorset. He was 
born January 24, 1637. Bishop Burnet says, he "was a generous, 
good-natured man. He was so oppressed with phlegm, that, till he 
was a little heated with wine, he scarce ever spoke ; but he was, upon 
that exaltation, a very lively man. Never was so much ill-nature in a 
pen as in his, joined with so much good-nature as was in himself, even 
to excess ; for he was against all punishing, even of malefactors. He 
was bountiful, even to run himself into difficulties, and charitable to a 
fault ; for he commonly gave all he had about him when he met an 
object that moved him. But he was so lazy, that, though the king 
seemed to court him to be a favorite, he would not give himself the 
trouble that belonged to that post. He hated the court, and despised 
the king, when he saw he was neither generous nor tender-hearted." — 
History of his Own Times, vol. i., p. 370. Lord Orford says of him, 
that "he was the finest gentleman of the voluptuous court of Charles 
the Second, and in the gloomy one of King William. He had as much 
wit as his first master, or his contemporaries, Buckingham and Roches- 
ter, without the royal want of feeling, the duke's want of principles, 
or the earl's want of thought. The latter said with astonishment, 'that. 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 215 

The Chevalier de Grammont was highly pleased with 
these lively and humorous compositions ; and wherever 
this subject was mentioned, never failed to produce his 
supplement upon the occasion : " It is strange, ' ' said he, 
1 ' that the country, which is little better than a gallows 
or a grave for young people, is allotted in this land only 
for the unfortunate, and not for the guilty ! poor Lady 
Chesterfield, for some unguarded looks, is immediately 
seized upon by an angry husband, who will oblige her 
to spend her Christmas at a country-house, a hundred 
and fifty miles from London ; while here there are a 
thousand ladies who are left at liberty to do whatever 
they please, and who indulge in that liberty, and whose 
conduct, in short, deserves a daily bastinado. I name 
no person, God forbid I should ; but Lady Middleton, 
Lady Denham, the queen's and the duchess's maids of 
honor, and a hundred others, bestow their favors to the 
right and to the left, and not the least notice is taken of 

he did not know how it was, but Lord Dorset might do anything, and 
yet was never to blame.' It was not that he was free from the failings 
of humanity, but he had the tenderness of it too, which made every- 
body excuse whom everybody loved ; for even the asperity of his verses 
seems to have been forgiven to 

'The best good man, with the worst-natured muse.' " 
Noble Authors, vol. ii., p. 96. Lord Dorset died January 19, 1705-6. 

% Sir Charles Sedley was born about the year 1639, and was educated 
at Wadham College, Oxford. He ran into all the excesses of the times 
in which he lived. Burnet says, ' ' Sedley had a more sudden and copious 
wit, which furnished a perpetual run of discourse ; but he was not so 
correct as Lord Dorset, nor so sparkling as Lord Rochester." — History 
of his Own Times, vol. i., p. 372. He afterwards took a more serious 
turn, and was active against the reigning family at the Revolution ; to 
which he was probably urged by the dishonor brought upon his 
daughter, created Countess of Dorchester by King James II. Lord 
Rochester's lines on his powers of seduction are well known. He died 
20th August, 1 701. 

I Sir George Etheredge, author of three comedies, was born about the 
year 1636. He was, in James the Second's reign, employed abroad ; first 
as envoy to Hamburgh, and afterwards as minister at Ratisbon, where 
he died, about the time of the Revolution. 



216 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

their conduct. As for L,ady Shrewsbury, she is con- 
spicuous. I would take a wager she might have a man 
killed for her every day, and she would only hold her 
head the higher for it : one would suppose she imported 
from Rome plenary indulgences for her conduct : there 
are three or four gentlemen who wear an ounce of her 
hair made into bracelets, and no person finds any fault ; 
and yet shall such a cross-grained fool as Chesterfield be 
permitted to exercise an act of tyranny, altogether un- 
known in this country, upon the prettiest woman in 
England, and all for a mere trifle : but I am his humble 
servant ; his precautions will avail him nothing ; on the 
contrary, very often a woman, who had no bad inten- 
tions when she was suffered to remain in tranquillity, is 
prompted to such conduct by revenge, or reduced to it 
by necessity : this is as true as the gospel : hear now 
what Francisco's saraband says on the subject : 

"Tell me, jealous-pated swain, 

What avail thy idle arts, 

To divide united hearts ? 

Love, like the wind, I trow, 

Will, where it listeth, blow ; 
So, prithee, peace, for all thy cares are vain. 

' ' When you are by, 
Nor wishful look, be sure, nor eloquent sigh, 

Shall dare those inward fires discover, 

Which burn in either lover : 
Yet Argus' self, if Argus were thy spy, 

Should ne'er, with all his mob of eyes, 
Surprise. 

"Some joys forbidden, 
Transports hidden, 
Which love, through dark and secret ways, 
Mysterious love, to kindred souls conveys. ' ' 

The Chevalier de Grammont passed for the author of 
this sonnet : neither the justness of the sentiment, nor 
turn of it are surprisingly beautiful ; but as it contained 






MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 217 

■some truths that flattered the genius of the nation, and 
pleased those who interested themselves for the fair sex, 
the ladies were all desirous of having it to teach their 
children. 

During all this time the Duke of York, not being in 
the way of seeing Lady Chesterfield, easily forgot her : 
her absence, however, had some circumstances attending 
it which could not but sensibly affect the person who had 
occasioned her confinement; but there are certain fortu- 
nate tempers to which every situation is easy; they feel 
neither disappointment with bitterness, nor pleasure 
with acuteness. In the meantime, as the duke could not 
remain idle, he had no sooner forgotten Lady Chester- 
field, but he began to think of her whom he had been in 
love with before, and was upon the point of relapsing 
into his old passion for Miss Hamilton. 

There was in London a celebrated portrait-painter 
.called Lely,* who had greatly improved himself by 
studying the famous Vandyke's pictures, which were 



* Sir Peter Lely was born at Soest, in Westphalia, 1617, and came to 
England in 1641. Lord Orford observes, "If Vandyke's portraits are 
often tame and spiritless, at least they are natural : his labored draperies 
flow with ease, and not a fold but is placed with propriety. Lely sup- 
plied the want of taste with clinquant : his nymphs trail fringes and 
.embroidery through meadows and purling streams. Add, that Vandyke's 
habits are those of the times ; Lely's a sort of fantastic night-gowns, 
fastened with a single pin. The latter was, in truth, the ladies' painter ; 
and whether the age was improved in beauty or in flattery, Lely's 
women are certainly much handsomer than those of Vandyke. They 
please as much more as they evidently meant to please. He caught 
the reigning character, and 

' on the animated canvas stole 



The sleepy eye, that spoke the melting soul.' 

I do not know whether, even in softness of the flesh, he did not excel 
his predecessor. The beauties at Windsor are the court of Paphos, and 
ought to be engraved for the memoirs of its charming biographer, 
Count Hamilton."— Anecdotes of Painting, vol. hi., p. 27. Sir Peter 
Lely died 1680, and was buried in St. Paul's, Covent Garden. 



218 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

dispersed all over England in abundance. Lely imitated 
Vandyke's manner, and approached the nearest to him of 
all the moderns. The Duchess of York, being desirous 
of having the portraits of the handsomest persons at court, 
Lely painted them, and employed all his skill in the 
performance; nor could he ever exert himself upon more 
beautiful subjects. Every picture appeared a master- 
piece ; and that of Miss Hamilton appeared the highest 
finished: Lely himself acknowledged that he had drawn 
it with a particular pleasure. The Duke of York took 
a delight in looking at it, and began again to ogle the 
original : he had very little reason to hope for success ; 
and at the same time that his hopeless passion alarmed 
Chevalier de Grammont, Lady Denham thought proper 
to renew the negotiation which had so unluckily been 
interrupted: it was soon brought to a conclusion; for 
where both parties are sincere in a negotiation, no time 
is lost in cavilling. Everything succeeded prosperously 
on one side ; yet I know not what fatality obstructed the 
pretensions of the other. The duke was very urgent 
with the duchess to put Lady Denham in possession of 
the place which was the object of her ambition ; but, as. 
she was not guarantee for the performance of the secret 
articles of the treaty, though till this time she had 
borne with patience the inconstancy of the duke, and 
yielded submissively to his desires, yet, in the present 
instance, it appeared hard and dishonorable to her, to- 
entertain near her person, a rival, who would expose her 
to the danger of acting but a second part in the midst of 
her own court. However, she saw herself upon the 
point of being forced to it by authority, when a far more 
unfortunate obstacle forever bereft poor Lady Denham of 
the hopes of possessing that fatal place, which she had 
solicited with such eagerness. 

Old Denham, naturally jealous, became more and 
more suspicious, and found that he had sufficient ground 
for such conduct: his wife was'young and handsome, he- 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 219 

old and disagreeable : what reason then had he to flatter 
himself that Heaven would exempt him from the fate of 
husbands in the like circumstances ? This he was con- 
tinually saying to himself ; but when compliments were 
poured in upon him from all sides, upon the place his 
lady was going to have near the duchess's person, he 
formed ideas of what was sufficient to have made him 
hang himself, if he had possessed the resolution. The 
traitor chose rather to exercise his courage against 
another. He wanted precedents for putting in practice 
his resentments in a privileged country : that of Lord 
Chesterfield was not sufficiently bitter for the revenge he 
meditated: besides, he had no country-house to which he 
could carry his unfortunate wife. This being the case, 
the old villain made her travel a much longer journey 
without stirring out of London. Merciless fate robbed 
her of life, * and of her dearest hopes, in the bloom of 
youth. 

As no person entertained any doubt of his having poi- 
soned her, the populace of his neighborhood had a de- 
sign of tearing him in pieces, as soon as he should come 
abroad; but he shut himself up to bewail her death, 
until their fury was appeased by a magnificent funeral, 
at which he distributed four times more burnt wine than 
had ever been drunk at any burial in England. 

While the town was in fear of some great disaster, as 
an expiation for these fatal effects of jealousy, Hamilton 
was not altogether so easy as he flattered himself he 
should be after the departure of Lady Chesterfield: he had 
only consulted the dictates of revenge in what he had 
done. His vengeance was satisfied ; but such was far 
from being the case with his love; and having, since the 
absence of her he still admired, notwithstanding his re- 



* The lampoons of the day, some of which are to be found in Andrew 
Marvell's Works, more than insinuate that she was deprived of life by 
a mixture infused into some chocolate. The slander of the times im- 
puted her death to the jealousy of the Duchess of York. 



220 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAM MONT. 

sentments, leisure to make those reflections which a 
recent injury will not permit a man to attend to: "And 
wherefore," said he to himself, "was I so eager to make 
her miserable, who alone, however culpable she may be, 
has it in her power to make me happy ? Cursed jeal- 
ousy ! " continued he, "yet more cruel to those who tor- 
ment than to those who are tormented ! What have I 
gained by having blasted the hopes of a more happy 
rival, since I was not able to perform this without depriv- 
ing myself, at the same time, of her upon whom the 
whole happiness and comfort of my life was centred. ' ' 

Thus, clearly proving to himself, by a great many 
reasonings of the same kind, and all out of season, that 
in such an engagement it was much better to partake 
with another than to have nothing at all, he filled his 
mind with a number of vain regrets and unprofitable re- 
morse, when he received a letter from her who occa- 
sioned them, but a letter so exactly adapted to increase 
them, that, after he had read it, he looked upon himself 
as the greatest scoundrel in the world. Here it follows : 

"You will, no doubt, be as much surprised at this 
letter as I was at the unconcerned air with which you 
beheld my departure. I am led to believe that you had 
imagined reasons which, in your own mind, justified 
such unseasonable conduct. If you are still under the 
impression of such barbarous sentiments it will afford you 
pleasure to be made acquainted with what I suffer in the 
most horrible of prisons. Whatever the country affords 
most melancholy in this season presents itself to my view 
on all sides : surrounded by impassable roads, out of one 
window I see nothing but rocks, out of another nothing 
but precipices ; but wherever I turn my eyes within 
doors I meet those of a jealous husband, still more in- 
supportable than the sad objects that encompass me. I 
should add to the misfortunes of my life that of seeming 
criminal in the eyes of a man who ought to have justified 
me, even against convincing appearances., if by my 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 221 

avowed innocence I had a right to complain or to expos- 
tulate : but how is it possible for me to justify myself at 
such a distance? and how can I flatter myself that the 
description of a most dreadful prison will not prevent 
you from believing me? But do you deserve that I 
should wish you did ? Heavens ! how I must hate you, 
if I did not love you to distraction. Come, therefore, 
and let me once again see you, that you may hear my 
justification ; and I am convinced that if after this visit 
you find me guilty it will not be with respect to your- 
self. Our Argus sets out to-morrow for Chester, where 
a law-suit will detain him a week. I know not whether 
he will gain it ; but I am sure it will be entirely your 
fault if he does not lose one, for which he is at least as 
anxious as that he is now going after." 

This letter was sufficient to make a man run blindfold 
into an adventure still more rash than that which was 
proposed to him, and that was rash enough in all re- 
spects : he could not perceive by what means she could 
justify herself ; but as she assured him he should be satis- 
fied with his journey, this was all he desired at present. 

There was one of his relations with Lady Chesterfield, 
who, having accompanied her in her exile, had gained 
some share in their mutual confidence ; and it was 
through her means he received this letter, with all the 
necessary instructions about his journey and his arrival. 
Secrecy being the soul of such expeditions, especially 
before an amour is accomplished, he took post, and set 
out in the night, animated by the most tender and flat- 
tering wishes, so that, in less than no time almost, in 
comparison with the distance and the badness of the 
roads, he had travelled a hundred and fifty tedious 
miles : at the last stage he prudently dismissed the post- 
boy. It was not yet daylight, and therefore, for fear of 
the rocks and precipices mentioned in her letter, he 
proceeded with tolerable discretion, considering he was 
in love. 



222 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

By this means lie fortunately escaped all the danger- 
ous places, and, according to his instructions, alighted 
at a little hut adjoining to the park wall. The place 
was not magnificent ; but, as he only wanted rest, it did 
well enough for that : he did not wish for daylight, and 
was even still less desirous of being seen ; wherefore, 
having shut himself up in this obscure retreat, he fell 
into a profound sleep, and did not wake until noon. 
As he was particularly hungry when he awoke, he ate 
and drank heartily : and, as he was the neatest man at 
court, and was expected by the neatest lady in England, 
he spent the remainder of the day in dressing himself, 
and in making all those preparations which the time and 
place permitted, without deigning once to look around 
him, or to ask his landlord a single question. At last 
the orders he expected with great impatience were 
brought him, in the beginning of the evening, by a ser- 
vant, who, attending him as a guide, after having led 
him for about half an hour in the dirt, through a park 
of vast extent, brought him at last into a garden, into 
which a little door opened : he was posted exactly oppo- 
site to this door, by which, in a short time, he was to be 
introduced to a more agreeable situation ; and here his 
conductor left him. The night advanced, but the door 
never opened. 

Though the winter was almost over, the cold weather 
seemed only to be beginning : he was dirtied up to his 
knees in mud, and soon perceived that if he continued 
much longer in this garden it would all be frozen. This 
beginning of a very dark and bitter night would have 
been unbearable to any other ; but it was nothing to a 
man who flattered himself to pass the remainder of it in 
the height of bliss. However, he began to wonder at so 
many precautions in the absence of a husband : his im- 
agination, by a thousand delicious and tender ideas, sup- 
ported him some time against the torments of impatience 
and the inclemency of the weather ; but he felt his 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 223 

imagination, notwithstanding, cooling by degrees ; and 
two hours, which seemed to him as tedious as two whole 
ages, having passed, and not the least notice being taken 
of him, either from the door or from the window, he 
began to reason with himself upon the posture of his 
affairs, and what was the fittest conduct for him to pur- 
sue in this emergency : "What if I should rap at this 
cursed door?" said he ; "for if my fate requires that I 
should perish, it is at least more honorable to die in the 
house than to be starved to death in the garden : but 
then," continued he, "I may, thereby, perhaps, expose 
a person whom some unforeseen accident may, at this 
very instant, have reduced to greater perplexity than 
even I myself am in." This thought supplied him with 
a necessary degree of patience and fortitude against the 
enemies he had to contend with ; he therefore began to 
walk quickly to and fro, with resolution to wait, as long 
as he could keep alive, the end of an adventure which 
had such an uncomfortable beginning. All this was to 
no purpose ; for though he used every effort to keep him- 
self warm, and though muffled up in a thick cloak, yet 
he began to be benumbed in all his limbs, and the cold 
gained the ascendancy over all his amorous vivacity and 
eagerness. Daybreak was not far off, and judging now 
that, though the accursed door should even be opened, 
it would be to no purpose, he returned, as well as he 
could, to the place from whence he had set out upon 
this wonderful expedition. 

All the fagots that were in the cottage were hardly 
able to unfreeze him : the more he reflected on his ad- 
venture, the circumstances attending it appeared still the 
more strange and unaccountable ; but so far from accus- 
ing the charming countess, he suffered a thousand differ- 
ent anxieties on her account. Sometimes he imagined 
that her husband might have returned unexpectedly ; 
sometimes, that she might suddenly have been taken ill ; 
in short, that some insuperable obstacle had unluckily 



v 224 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

interposed, and prevented his happiness, notwithstanding 
his mistress's kind intentions towards him. "But 
wherefore,'' said he, " did she forget me in that cursed 
garden? Is it possible that she could not find a single 
moment to make me at least some sign or other, if she 
could neither speak to me nor give me admittance ? ' ' 
He knew not which of these conjectures to rely upon, or 
how to answer his own questions ; but as he flattered 
himself that everything would succeed better the next 
night, after having vowed not to set a foot again into 
that unfortunate garden, he gave orders to be awakened 
as soon as any person should inquire for him : then he 
laid himself down in one of the worst beds in the world, 
and slept as sound as if he had been in the best : he sup- 
posed that he should not be awakened, but either by a 
letter or a message from Lady Chesterfield ; but he had 
scarce slept two hours, when he was roused by the sound 
of the horn and the cry of the hounds. The hut which 
afforded him a retreat, joining, as we before said, to the 
park wall, he called his host, to know what was the 
occasion of that hunting, which made a noise as if the 
whole pack of hounds had been in his bedchamber. He 
was told that it was my lord hunting a hare in his park. 
"What lord?" said he, in great surprise. "The Earl 
of Chesterfield," replied the peasant. He was so aston- 
ished at this that at first he hid his head under the bed- 
clothes, under the idea that he already saw him entering 
with all his hounds ; but as soon as he had a little re- 
covered himself he began to curse capricious fortune, no 
longer doubting but this jealous fool's return had occa- 
sioned all his tribulations in the preceding night. 

It was not possible for him to sleep again, after such 
an alarm ; he therefore got up, that he might revolve in 
his mind all the stratagems that are usually employed 
either to deceive, or to remove out of the way, a jealous 
scoundrel of a husband, who thought fit to neglect his 
law-suit in order to plague his wife. He had just finished 




GEBB1E &CO. 



&A6%4Z£w£h/, XDx>wyi£edJ yaJy ^A^J^rXo&ld^. 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 225 

dressing himself, and was beginning to question his land- 
lord, when the same servant who had conducted him to 
the garden delivered him a letter and disappeared, with- 
out waiting for an answer. This letter was from his 
relation, and was to this effect : 

' ' I am extremely sorry that I have innocently been 
accessary to bringing you to a place to which you were 
only invited to be laughed at : I opposed this journey at 
first, though I was then persuaded it was wholly sug- 
gested by her tenderness ; but she has now undeceived 
me : she triumphs in the trick she has played you : her 
husband has not stirred from hence, but stays at home, 
out of complaisance to her : he treats her in the most 
affectionate manner; and it was upon their reconciliation 
that she found out that you had advised him to carry 
her into the country. She has conceived such hatred 
and aversion against you for it, that I find, from her 
discourse, she has not yet wholly satisfied her resent- 
ment. Console yourself for the hatred of a person whose 
heart never merited your tenderness. Return : a longer 
stay in this place will but draw upon you some fresh 
misfortune : for my part, I shall soon leave her : I know 
her, and I thank God for it. I do not repent having 
pitied her at first ; but I am disgusted with an employ- 
ment which but ill agrees with my way of thinking. ' ' 

Upon reading this letter, astonishment, shame, hatred 
and rage seized at once upon his heart : then menaces, 
invectives, and the desire of vengeance, broke forth by 
turns, and excited his passion and resentment; but, after 
he deliberately considered the matter, he resolved that 
it was now the best way quietly to mount his horse and 
to carry back with him to London a severe cold, instead 
of the soft wishes and tender desires he had brought from 
thence. He quitted this perfidious place with much 
greater expedition than he had arrived at it, though his 
mind was far from being occupied with such tender and 
agreeable ideas : however, when he thought himself at 
15 



226 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

a sufficient distance to be out of danger of meeting Lord 
Chesterfield and his hounds, he chose to look back, that 
he might at least have the satisfaction of seeing the 
prison where this wicked enchantress was confined ; but 
what was his surprise, when he saw a very fine house, 
situated on the banks of a river, in the most delightful 
and pleasant country imaginable.* Neither rock nor 
precipice was here to be seen ; for, in reality, they were 
only in the letter of his perfidious mistress. This fur- 
nished fresh cause for resentment and confusion to a 
man who thought himself so well acquainted with all 
the wiles, as well as weaknesses, of the fair sex ; and 
who now found himself the dupe of a coquette, who 
was reconciled to her husband in order to be revenged 
on her lover. 

At last he reached London, well furnished with argu- 
ments to maintain that a man must be extremely weak 
to trust to the tenderness of a woman who has once de- 
ceived him, but that he must be a complete fool to run 
after her. 

This adventure not being much to his credit, he sup- 
pressed, as much as possible, both the journey and the 



* This was Bretby, in the county of Derby. A late traveller has the 
following reflections on this place : ' ' Moving back again a few miles to 
the west, we trace, with sad reflection, the melancholy ruins and de- 
structions of what was once the boasted beauty of the lovely country, 
viz., Bretby, the ancient seat of the Earls of Chesterfield. Nothing 
scarce is left of that former grandeur, those shades, those sylvan scenes 
that everywhere graced the most charming of all parks : the baneful 
hand of luxury hath, with rude violence, laid them waste. About ten 
years ago, the venerable and lofty pile was standing, and exhibited de- 
lightful magnificence to its frequent visitors : its painted roofs and 
walls, besides a large collection of pictures, afforded much entertain- 
ment to the fond admirer of antique beauties ; and the whole stood as 
a lasting monument of fame and credit to its lordly owner. Would 
they were standing now ! but that thought is vain : not only each sur- 
rounding monument, but the very stones themselves, have been con- 
verted to the purpose of filthy lucre."— Tour in 1787 from London to 
the Western Islands of Scotland, i2tno., p. 29. 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 227 

circumstances attending it ; but, as we may easily sup- 
pose, I^ady Chesterfield made no secret of it, the king 
came to the knowledge of it ; and, having complimented 
Hamilton upon it, desired to be informed of all the par- 
ticulars of the expedition. The Chevalier de Grammont 
happened to be present at this recital ; and, having gently 
inveighed against the treacherous manner in which he 
had been used, said : " If she is to be blamed for carrying 
the jest so far, you are no less to be blamed for coming 
back so suddenly, like an ignorant novice. I dare lay 
an hundred guineas, she has more than once repented of 
a resentment which you pretty well deserved for the 
trick you had played her : women love revenge ; but 
their resentments seldom last long ; and if you had re- 
mained in the neighborhood till the next day, I will be 
hanged if she would not have given you satisfaction for 
the first night's sufferings." Hamilton being of a dif- 
ferent opinion, the Chevalier de Grammont resolved to 
maintain his assertion by a case in point ; and, address- 
ing himself to the king: "Sir," said he, "your majesty, 
I suppose, must have known Marion de l'Orme, the 
most charming creature in all France : though she was 
as witty as an angel, she was as capricious as a devil. 
This beauty having made me an appointment, a whim 
seized her to put me off, and to give it to another ; she 
therefore wrote me one of the tenderest billets in the 
world, full of the grief and sorrow she was in, by being 
obliged to disappoint me, on account of a most terrible 
headache, that obliged her to keep her bed, and de- 
prived her of the pleasure of seeing me till the next day. 
This headache coming all of a sudden, appeared to me 
very suspicious ; and, never doubting but it was her 
intention to jilt me: 'Very well, mistress coquette,' 
said I to myself, ' if you do not enjoy, the pleasure of 
seeing me this day, you shall not enjoy the satisfaction 
of seeing another. ' 

"Hereupon, I detached all my servants, some of whom 



228 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

patrolled about her house, whilst others watched her 
door ; one of the latter brought me intelligence that no 
person had gone into her house all the afternoon ; but 
that a foot-boy had gone out as it grew dark ; that he 
followed him as far as the Rue Saint Antoine, where this 
boy met another, to whom he only spoke two or three 
words. This was sufficient to confirm my suspicions, 
and make me resolve either to make one of the party, 
or to disconcert it. 

"As the bagnio where I lodged was at a great distance 
from the Marais, as soon as the night set in I mounted 
my horse, without any attendant. When I came to the 
Place-Royale, the servant, who was sentry there, assured 
me that no person was yet gone into Mademoiselle de 
l'Orme's * house : I rode forward towards the Rue Saint 
Antoine ; and, just as I was going out of the Place- 
Royale, I saw a man on foot coming in-to it, who avoided 
me as much as he possibly could ; but his endeavor was 
all to no purpose ; I knew him to be the Duke de Bris- 
sac, and I no longer doubted but he was my rival that 
night : I then approached towards him, seeming as if I 
feared I mistook my man ; and, alighting with a very 
busy air : ' Brissac, my friend,' said I, 'you must do me 
a service of the very greatest importance : I have an ap- 
pointment, for the first time, with a girl who lives very 
near this place ; and, as this visit is only to concert 
measures, I shall make but a very short stay ; be so kind, 
therefore, as to lend me your cloak, and walk my horse 
about a little, until I return ; but, above all, do not go 
far from this place : you see that I use you freely like a 
friend ; but you know it is upon condition that you may 
take the same liberty with me.' I took his cloak, with- 



* Marion de l'Orme, born at Chalons, in Champagne, was esteemed 
the most beautiful woman of her times. It is believed that she was 
secretly married to the unfortunate Monsieur Cinqmars. After his 
death, she became the mistress of Cardinal Richelieu, and, at last, of 
Monsieur d'Emery, superintendent of the finances. 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 229 

out waiting for his answer, and he took my horse by the 
bridle, and followed me with his eye ; but he gained no 
intelligence by this ; for, after having pretended to go 
into a house opposite to him, I slipped under the piazzas 
to Mademoiselle de l'Orme's, where the door was opened 
as soon as I knocked. I was so much muffled up in 
Brissac's cloak that I was taken for him : the door was 
immediately shut, not the least question asked me ; and 
having none to ask myself I went straight to the lady's 
chamber. I found her upon a couch in the most agree- 
able and genteelest deshabille imaginable : she never in 
her life looked so handsome, nor was so greatly surprised; 
and, seeing her speechless and confounded : ' What is 
the matter, my fair one ? ' said I, ' methinks this is a 
headache very elegantly set off ; but your headache, to 
all appearance, is now gone?' ' Not in the least,' said 
she, ' I can scarce support it, and you will oblige me in 
going away that I may go to bed.' 'As for your going 
to bed, to that I have not the least objection,' said I, 'but 
as for my going away, that cannot be, my little princess : 
the Chevalier de Grammont is no fool ; a woman does not 
dress herself with so much care for nothing.' ' You will 
find, however, ' said she, ' that it is for nothing ; for you 
may depend upon it that you shall be no gainer by it. ' 
' What ! ' said I, ' after having made me an appointment ! ' 
' Well,' replied she hastily, ' though I had made you fifty, 
it still depends upon me, whether I chose to keep them 
or not, and you must submit if I do not. ' ' This might 
do very well,' said I, ' if it was not to give it to another.' 
Mademoiselle de l'Orme, as haughty as a woman of the 
greatest virtue, and as passionate as one who has the least, 
was irritated at a suspicion which gave her more concern 
than confusion ; and seeing that she was beginning to 
put herself in a passion : ' Madam,' said I, ' pray do not 
talk in so high a strain ; I know what perplexes you : you 
are afraid lest Brissac should meet me here; but you may 
make yourself easy on that account : I met him not far 



230 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

from this place, and God knows that I have so managed 
the ,affair as to prevent his visiting you soon. ' Having 
spoken these words in a tone somewhat tragical, she ap- 
peared ; concerned at first, and, looking upon me with 
surprise : ; ' What do you mean about the Duke de Bris- 
sac?' said she. 'I mean,' replied I, ' that he is at the 
end of the street, walking my horse about ; but, if you 
will not believe me, send one of your own servants 
thither, or look at his cloak which I left in your ante- 
chamber, ' Upon this she burst into a fit of laughter, in 
the midst of her astonishment, and, throwing her arms 
around my neck, " My dear Chevalier,' said she, ' I can 
hold out no longer ; you are too amiable and too eccen- 
tric not to be pardoned.' I then told her the whole 
story: she was ready to die with laughing ; and, parting 
very good friends, she assured me my rival might exercise 
horses as long as he pleased, but that he should not set 
his foot within her doors that night. 

" I found the duke exactly in the place where I had 
left him : I asked him a thousand pardons for having 
made him wait so long, and thanked him a thousand 
times for his complaisance. He told me I jested, that 
such compliments were unusual among friends ; and to 
convince me that he had cordially rendered me this piece 
of service, he would, by all means, hold my horse while 
I was mounting. I returned him his cloak, bade him 
good-night, and went back to my lodgings, equally satis- 
fied with my mistress and my rival. This, ' ' continued 
he, ';' proves that a little patience and address are suffi- 
cient to disarm the anger of the fair, to turn even their 
tricks to a man's advantage." 

, It was not in vain that the Chevalier de Grammont di- 
verted the court with his stories, instructed by his exam- 
ple, and never appeared there but to inspire universal 
joy ; for a long time he was the only foreigner in fashion. 
Fortune, jealous of the justice which is done to merit, 
and desirous of seeing all human happiness depend on her 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 231 

•caprice, raised up against him two competitors for the 
pleasure he had long enjoyed of entertaining the English 
court ; and these competitors were so much the more 
dangerous, as the reputation of their several merits had 
preceded their arrival, in order to dispose the suffrages 
of the court in their favor. 

They came to display, in their own persons, whatever 
was the most accomplished either among the men of the 
sword, or of the gown. The one was the Marquis de 
Flamarens, * the sad object of the sad elegies of the 
Countess de la Suse, f the other was the president Tam- 
bonneau, the most humble and most obedient servant 
and admirer of the beauteous Luynes. As they arrived 
together, they exerted every endeavor to shine in concert: 
their talents were as different as their persons ; Tambon- 
neau,! who was tolerably ugly, founded his hopes upon a 
great store of wit, which, however, no person in England 
could find out ; and Flamarens, by his air and mien, 
courted admiration, which was flatly denied him. 



* A Monsieur Flamarin, but whether the same person as here de- 
scribed cannot be exactly ascertained, is mentioned, in Sydney's Let- 
ters, to have been in England at a later period than is comprehended 
in these Memoirs. "Monsieur de Flamarin hath been received at 
Windsor as seriously as if it had been believed the Queen of Spain's 
■marriage should not hold unless it were here approved ; and the for- 
malities that are usual with men of business having been observed to 
him, he is grown to think he is so."— Sydney's Works, p. 94. 

f This lady was the daughter of Gaspar de Coligni, marshal of France, 
and was celebrated in her time for her wit and her elegies. She was 
one of the few women with whom Christina, Queen of Sweden, con- 
descended to become intimate. Though educated a Protestant, she 
embraced the Roman Catholic religion, less from a motive of devotion, 
than to have a pretence for parting from her husband, who was a 
Protestant, and for whom she had an invincible abhorrence ; which 
occasioned the queen to say : "The Countess of Suse became a Cath- 
olic, that she might neither meet her husband in this world nor the 
next."— See Lacombe's Life of Queen Christina. The countess died 
in 1673. 

X I find this person mentioned in Memoirs of the Court of France, 
*8vo., 1702, part ii., p. 42. 



232 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

They had agreed mutually to assist each other, in 
order to succeed in their intentions ; and therefore, in 
their first visits, the one appeared in state, and the other 
was the spokesman. But they found the ladies in Eng- 
land of a far different taste from those who had rendered 
them famous in France : the rhetoric of the one had no 
effect on the fair sex, and the fine mien of the other 
distinguished him only in a minuet, which he first in- 
troduced into England, and which he danced with 
tolerable success. The English court had been too- 
long accustomed to the solid wit of Saint Evremond, 
and the natural and singular charms of his hero, to be- 
seduced by appearances ; however, as the English have, 
in general, a sort of predilection in favor of anything 
that has the appearance of bravery, Flamarens was. 
better received on account of a duel, which, obliging 
him to leave his own country, was a recommendation to- 
him in England. 

Miss Hamilton had, at first, the honor of being dis- 
tinguished by Tambonneau, who thought she possessed 
a sufficient share of wit to discover the delicacy of his ;; 
and, being delighted to find that nothing was lost in 
her conversation, either as to the turn, the expression, 
or beauty of the thought, he frequently did her the favor 
to converse with her ; and, perhaps, he would never 
have found out that he was tiresome, if, contenting him- 
self with the display of his eloquence, he had not 
thought proper to attack her heart. This was carrying 
the matter a little too far for Miss Hamilton's com- 
plaisance, who was of opinion that she had already 
shown him too much for the tropes of his harangues : he 
was therefore desired to try somewhere else the ex- 
periment of his seducing tongue, and not to lose the 
merit of his former constancy by an infidelity which 
would be of no advantage to him. 

He followed this advice like a wise and tractable 
man ; and some time after, returning to his old mistress. 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 233 

in France, he began to lay in a store of politics for those 
important negotiations in which he has since been em- 
ployed. 

It was not till after his departure that the Chevalier 
de Grammont heard of the amorous declaration he had 
made : this was a confidence of no great importance ; it, 
however, saved Tambonneau from some ridicule which 
might have fallen to his share before he went away. 
His colleague, Flamarens, deprived of his support, soon 
perceived that he was not likely to meet in England 
with the success he had expected, both from love and 
fortune : but Lord Falmouth, ever attentive to the glory 
of his master, in the relief of illustrious men in distress, 
provided for his subsistence, and Lady Southesk for his 
pleasures : he obtained a pension from the king, and 
from her everything he desired ; and most happy was it 
for him that she had no other present to bestow but that 
of her heart. 

It was at this time that Talbot, whom we have before 
mentioned, and who was afterwards created Duke of 
Tyrconnel,* fell in love with Miss Hamilton. There 

* Richard Talbot, the fifth son "of an Irish family, but of ancient 
English extraction, which had always inhabited within that circle that 
was called the Pale ; which, being originally an English plantation, 
was, in so many hundred years, for the most part degenerated into 
the manners of the Irish, and rose and mingled with them in the late 
rebellion : and of this family there were two distinct families, who had 
competent estates, and lived in many descents in the rank of gentlemen 
of quality." Thus far Lord Clarendon ; who adds, that Richard Talbot 
and his "brothers were all the sons, or the grandsons, of one who was 
a judge in Ireland, and esteemed a learned man." — Continuation of 
Clarendon. Of the person now under consideration the same writer 
appears, and with great reason, to have entertained a very ill opinion. 
Dick Talbot, as he was called, "was brought into Flanders first by Daniel 
O'Neile, as one who was willing to assassinate Cromwell ; and he made 
a journey into England with that resolution, not long before his death, 
and after it returned into Flanders, ready to do all that he should be 
required. He was a very handsome young man, wore good clothes, and 
was, without doubt, of a clear, ready courage, which was virtue enough 
to recommend a man to the duke's good opinion ; which, with more 



234 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

was not a more genteel man at court : he was indeed but 
a younger brother, though of a very ancient family, 
which, however, was not very considerable either for its 
renown or its riches ; and though he was naturally of a 
careless disposition, yet, being intent upon making his 
fortune, and much in favor with the Duke of York, and 
fortune likewise favoring him at play, he had improved 
both so well that he was in possession of about forty 
thousand pounds a year in land. He offered himself to 
Miss Hamilton, with this fortune, together with the 
almost certain hopes of being made a peer of the realm, 
by his master's credit ; and, over-and-above all, as many 
sacrifices as she could desire of L,ady Shrewsbury's 

expedition than could be expected, he got, to that degree, that he was 
made of his bed-chamber ; and from that qualification embarked himself 
after the king's return, in the pretences of the Irish, with such an 
unusual confidence, and, upon private contracts, with such scandalous 
circumstances, that the chancellor had sometimes, at the council-table, 
been obliged to give him severe reprehensions, and often desired the 
duke to withdraw his countenance from him." — Continuation of Claren- 
don. It is to be remembered that he was one of the men of honor 
already noticed. On King James's accession to the throne, he was 
created Earl of Tyrconnel, and placed, as lieutenant-general, at the 
head of the Irish army, where his conduct was so agreeable to his 
sovereign, that he was, in 1689, advanced to the dignity of Duke of 
Tyrconnel. He was afterwards employed by the king in Ireland, where 
his efforts were without effect. The Duke of Berwick says, ' ' his stature 
was above the ordinary size. He had great experience of the world, 
having been early introduced into the best company, and possessed of 
an honorable employment in the household of the Duke of York ; who, 
upon his succession to the crown, raised him to the dignity of an earl, 
and, well knowing his zeal and attachment, made him soon after viceroy 
of Ireland. He was a man of very good sense, very obliging, but immod- 
erately vain, and full of cunning. Though he had acquired great pos- 
sessions, it could not be said that he had employed improper means ; for 
he never appeared to have a passion for money. He had not a military 
genius, but much courage. After the Prince of Orange's invasion, his 
firmness preserved Ireland, and he nobly refused all the offers that were 
made to induce him to submit. From the time of the battle of the 
Boyne, he sank prodigiously, being become as irresolute in his mind as 
unwieldly in his person." — Memoirs, vol. i., p. 94. He died at Lim- 
erick, 5th August, 1 69 1. 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 235 

letters, pictures, and hair ; curiosities which, indeed, are 
reckoned for nothing in housekeeping, but which testify 
strongly in favor of the sincerity and merit of a lover. 

Such a rival was not to be despised ; and the Cheva- 
lier de Grammont thought him the more dangerous, as 
he perceived that Talbot was' desperately in love ; that 
he was not a man to be discouraged by a first repulse ; 
that he had too much sense and good breeding to draw 
upon himself either contempt or coldness by too great 
eagerness ; and, besides this, his brothers began to fre- 
quent the house. One of these brothers was almoner to 
the queen,* an intriguing Jesuit, and a great match- 
maker : the other was what was called a lay-monk, f who 
had nothing of his order but the immorality and infamy 
of character which is ascribed to them ; and withal, 
frank and free, and sometimes entertaining, but ever 
ready to speak bold and offensive truths, and to do good 
offices. 

When the Chevalier de Grammont reflected upon all 
these things, there certainly was strong ground for un- 
easiness: nor was the indifference which Miss Hamilton 
showed for the addresses of his rival sufficient to remove 
his fears; for being absolutely dependent on her father's 
will, she could only answer for her own intentions : but 
Fortune, who seemed to have taken him under her pro- 
tection in England, now delivered him from all his un- 
easiness. 

Talbot had for many years stood forward as the patron 
of the distressed Irish : this zeal for his countrymen was 
certainly very commendable in itself ; at the same time, 



* This was Peter Talbot, whose character is drawn by Lord Claren- 
don in terms not more favorable than those in which his brother is 
portrayed. — See Continuation of Clarendon, p. 363. 

f Thomas Talbot, a Franciscan friar, of wit enough, says Lord 
Clarendon, but of notorious debauchery. More particulars of this man 
may be found in the same noble historian. — See Continuation of 
Clarendon, p. 363. 



236 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

however, it was not altogether free from self-interest : 
for, out of all the estates he had, through his credit, pro- 
cured the restoration of to their primitive owners, he had 
always obtained some small compensation for himself ; 
but, as each owner found his advantage in it, no com- 
plaint was made. Nevertheless, as it is very difficult to 
use fortune and favor with moderation, and not to swell 
with the gales of prosperity, some of his proceedings had 
an air of haughtiness and independence which offended 
the Duke of Ormond,* then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, 
as injurious to his Grace's authority. The duke resented 
this behavior with great spirit. As there certainly was- 
a great difference between them, both as to their birth 
and rank, and to their credit, it had been prudent in 
Talbot to have had recourse to apologies and submission;, 
but such conduct appeared to him base, and unworthy 
for a man of his importance to submit to: he accordingly 
acted with haughtiness and insolence ; but he was soon con- 
vinced of his error; for, having inconsiderately launched 
out into some arrogant expressions which it neither 
became him to utter nor the Duke of Ormond to forgive, 
he was sent prisoner to the Tower, from whence he 
could not be released until he had made all necessary 
submissions to his Grace : he therefore employed all his 
friends for that purpose, and was obliged to yield more 
to get out of this scrape than would have been necessary 
to have avoided it. By this imprudent conduct he lost 
all hopes of marrying into a family, which, after such a 
proceeding, was not likely to listen to any proposal from 
him. 

It was with great difficulty and mortification that he 
was obliged to suppress a passion which had made far 
greater progress in his heart than this quarrel had done 

* A very exact account of this transaction is given by Lord Claren- 
don, by which it appears that Talbot was committed to the Tower for 
threatening to assassinate the Duke of Ormond. — Continuation of 
Clarendon, p. 362. 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 237 

:good to his affairs. This being the case, he was of 
opinion that his presence was necessary in Ireland, and 
that he was better out of the way of Miss Hamilton, to 
remove those impressions which still troubled his 
repose: his departure, therefore, soon followed this reso- 
lution. 

Talbot played deep, and was tolerably forgetful : the 
Chevalier de Grammont won three or four hundred guin- 
eas of him the very evening on which he was sent to the 
Tower. That accident had made him forget his usual 
punctuality in paying the next morning whatever he had 
lost over-night; and this debt had so far escaped his mem- 
ory, that it never once occurred to him after he was en- 
larged. The Chevalier de Grammont, who saw him at 
his departure, without taking the least notice of the 
money he owed him, wished him a good journey ; and, 
having met him at court, as he came to take his leave of 
the king: "Talbot," said he, "if my services can be of 
any use to you during your absence, you have but to 
command them: you know old Russell has left his nephew 
as his resident with Miss Hamilton: if you please, I will 
act for you in the same capacity. Adieu, God bless you: 
be sure not to fall sick upon the road; but if you should, 
pray remember me in your will." Talbot, who, upon 
this compliment, immediately recollected the money he 
owed the Chevalier, burst out a-laughing, and embracing 
him: "My dear Chevalier," said he, "I am so much 
obliged to you for your offer, that I resign you my mis- 
tress, and will send you your money instantly." The 
Chevalier de Grammont possessed a thousand of these 
genteel ways of refreshing the memories of those persons 
who were apt to be forgetful in their payments. The 
following is the method he used some years after with 
Lord Cornwallis: * this lord had married the daughter of 



* Charles, the third Lord Cornwallis, born in 1655. He married, 
December 27, 1673, Elizabeth, the eldest daughter of Sir Stephen Fox, 



238 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

Sir Stephen Fox,* treasurer of the king's household, one 
of the richest and most regular men in England. His 
son-in-law, on the contrary, was a young spendthrift, 
was very extravagant, loved gaming, lost as much as any 
one would trust him, but was not quite so ready at pay- 
ing. His father-in-law disapproved of his conduct, paid 
his debts, and gave him a lecture at the same time. The 
Chevalier de Grammoiit had won of him a thousand or 
twelve hundred guineas, which he heard no tidings of, 
although he was upon the eve of his departure, and he 
had taken leave of Cornwallis in a more particular man- 
ner than any other person. This obliged the Chevalier 
to write him a billet, which was rather laconic. It was 
this: 

"My Lord, 

"Pray remember the Count de Grammoiit, and do 
not forget Sir Stephen Fox." 

To return to Talbot : he went away more concerned 

knight, and afterwards, in 1688, the widow of the Duke of Monmouth. 
Lord Cornwallis died April 29, 1698. 

* This gentleman is said to have been of a genteel family, settled at 
Farley, in Wiltshire, and was the architect of his own fortune. Lord 
Clarendon says, in his History of the Rebellion, that he was entertained 
by Lord Percy, then lord chamberlain of the king's household, at Paris, 
about the year 1652, and continued in His Majesty's service until the 
Restoration. On that event he was made clerk of the green cloth, and 
afterwards paymaster-general of the forces in England. On the 1st July, 
1665, he was knighted. In 1680, he was constituted one of the lords 
commissioners of the treasury. On the accession of James II., he was. 
continued first clerk of the green cloth ; and in December, 1686, was 
again appointed one of the commissioners of the treasury. At the rev- 
olution, he concurred in voting the throne vacant ; and, on 19th March, 
1689, was a third time appointed to the treasury, which place he held 
until he retired from public business, in 1701. By his first lady he had 
seven sons and three daughters ; and by his second, whom he married 
in the year 1703, when he was 76 years of age, he had two sons, who 
both afterwards became peers,— Stephen, Earl of Ilchester, and Henry, 
Lord Holland, and two daughters. He died in the year 17 16, at Chis- 
wick, in his 89th year. 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 239 

than became a man who had voluntarily resigned his 
mistress to another : neither his stay in Ireland, nor his 
solicitude about his domestic affairs, perfectly cured him ; 
and if at his return he found himself disengaged from 
Miss Hamilton's chains, it was only to exchange them 
for others. The alteration that had taken place in the 
two courts occasioned this change in him, as we shall see 
in the sequel. 

We have hitherto only mentioned the queen's maids 
of honor, upon account of Miss Stewart and Miss War- 
mestre: the others were Miss Bellenden, Mademoiselle de 
la Garde, and Mademoiselle Bardou, all maids of honor, 
as it pleased God. 

Miss Bellenden was no beauty, but was a good-natured 
girl, whose chief merit consisted in being plump and 
fresh-colored ; and who, not having a sufficient stock of 
wit to be a coquette in form, used all her endeavors to 
please every person by her complaisance. Mademoiselle 
de la Garde, and Mademoiselle Bardou, both French, 
had been preferred to their places by the queen dowager: 
the first was a little brunette, who was continually med- 
dling in the affairs of her companions ; and the other by 
all means claimed the rank of a maid of honor, though 
she only lodged with the others, and both her title and 
services were constantly contested. 

It was hardly possible for a woman to be more ugly, 
with so fine a shape ; but as a recompense, her ugliness 
was set off with every art. The use she was put to was 
to dance with Flamarens, and sometimes, towards the 
conclusion of a ball, possessed of castanets and effrontery, 
she would dance some figured saraband or other, which 
amused the court. Let us now see in what manner this 
ended. 

As Miss Stewart was very seldom in waiting on the 
queen, she was scarcely considered as a maid of honor : 
the others went off almost at the same time, by different 
adventures ; and this is the history of Miss Warmestre, 



240 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

whom we have before mentioned, when speaking of the 
Chevalier de Grammont. 

Lord Taaffe, eldest son of the Earl of Carlingford,* 
was supposed to be in love with her ; and Miss War- 
mestre not only imagined it was so, but likewise persuaded 
herself that he would not fail to marry her the first op- 
portunity ; and in the meantime she thought it her duty 
to entertain him with all the civility imaginable. Taaffe 
had made the Duke of Richmond f his confidant : these 
two were particularly attached to each other ; but still 
more so to wine. The Duke of Richmond, notwith- 
standing his birth, made but an indifferent figure at 
court*; and the king respected him still less than his 
courtiers did : and perhaps it was in order to court His 
Majesty's favor that he thought proper to fall in love 
with Miss Stewart. The Duke and Lord Taaffe made 
each other the confidants of their respective engage- 
ments ; and these were the measures they took to put 
their designs in execution. Little Mademoiselle de la 

* Nicholas, the third Viscount Taaffe, and second Earl of Carling- 
ford. He was of the privy-council to King James II., and, in 1689, 
went as envoy to the Emperor Leopold. He lost his life the next year, 
1st July, at the battle of the Boyne, commanding at that time a regi- 
ment of foot. This nobleman, although he succeeded his father in his 
title, was not his eldest son. King Charles appears to have had a great 
regard for the family. In a letter from Lord Arlington to Sir Richard 
Fanshaw, dated April 21, 1664, that nobleman says: "Colonel Luke 
Taaffe (a brother of my Lord Carlingford' s) hath served his catholic 
majesty many years in the state of Milan, with a standing regiment 
there ; which regiment he desires now to deliver over to Captain 
Nicholas Taaffe, a younger son of my Lord Carlingford's, and the col- 
onel's nephew, who is now a captain of the regiment ; and His Majesty 
commands me to recommend to your excellency the bringing this to 
pass, for the affection he hath to the family, and the merit of this young 
gentleman." — Arlington's Letters, vol. ii., p. 21. 

f Charles Stewart, Duke of Richmond and Lennox. He was after- 
wards sent ambassador to Denmark, and died at Elsinore, December 
12, 1672. Burnet says he "was sent to give a lustre to the negotiation, 
which was chiefly managed by Mr. Henshaw." — History of his Own 
Times, vol. i., p. 425. 



^v^f^SSgS^CF 



iiiiiiiiii''; 




■ S'/yrrtceJ C^£ectH&?€/, /JusdUdJ /<?^ > ^JuMtrtcmds. 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 241 

f Garde * was charged to acquaint Miss Stewart that the 
Duke of Richmond was dying of love for her, and 
that when he ogled her in public it was a certain sign 
that he was ready to marry her, as soon as ever she would 
consent. 

TaafFe had no commission to give the little ambas- 
sadress for Miss Warmestre ; for there everything was 
already arranged; but she was charged to settle and pro- 
vide some conveniences which were still wanting for the 
freedom of their commerce, such as to have free egress 
and regress to her at all hours of the day or night ; this 
appeared difficult to be obtained, but it was, however, at 
length accomplished. 

The governess of the maids of honor, who for the 
world would not have connived at anything that was not 
fair and honorable, consented that they should sup as 
often as they pleased in Miss Warmestre' s apartments, 
provided their intentions were honorable, and she one 
-of the company. The good old lady was particularly 
fond of green oysters, and had no aversion to Spanish 
wine : she was certain of finding at every one of these 
•suppers two barrels of oysters ; one to be eaten with the 
party, and the other for her to carry away : as soon, 
therefore, as she had taken her dose of wine, she took 
■her leave of the company. 

It was much about the time that the Chevalier de 
'Grammont had cast his eyes upon Miss Warmestre, that 
this kind of life was led in her chamber. God knows 
how many ham pies, bottles of wine, and other products 
■of his lordship's liberality were there consumed ! 



* Daughter of Charles Peliot, L,ord de la Garde, whose eldest 
•daughter married Sir Thomas Bond, comptroller of the household to 
the queen-mother. Sir Thomas Bond had a considerable estate at 
Peckham, and his second son married the niece of Jermyn, one of 
the heroes of these Memoirs. — See Collins 's Baronetage, vol. iii., p. 
4. She became the wife of Sir Gabriel Silvius, and died 13th Oc- 
tober, 1730. 
16 



242 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

In the midst of these nocturnal festivals, and of this 
innocent commerce, a relation of Killegrew's came up 
to London about a lawsuit : he gained his cause, but 
nearly lost his senses. 

He was a country gentleman, who had been a widower 
about six months, and was possessed of fifteen or sixteen 
thousand pounds a year : the good man, who had no busi- 
ness at court, went thither merely to see his cousin Kille- 
grew, who could have dispensed with his visits. He 
there saw Miss Warmestre ; and at first sight fell in love 
with her. His passion increased to such a degree that, 
having no rest either by day or by night, he was obliged 
to have recourse to extraordinary remedies; he therefore 
early one morning called upon his cousin Killegrew, 
told him his case, and desired him to demand Miss 
Warmestre in marriage for him. 

Killegrew was struck with wonder and astonishment 
when he heard his design: nor could he cease wondering 
at what sort of creature, of all the women in London, 
his cousin had resolved upon marrying. It was some time 
before Killegrew could believe that he was in earnest ; 
but when he was convinced that he was, he began to 
enumerate the dangers and inconveniences attending so 
rash an enterprise. He told him that a girl educated at 
court was a terrible piece of furniture for the country ; 
that to carry her thither against her inclination would 
as effectually rob him of his happiness and repose as if 
he was transported to hell ; that if he consented to let 
her stay, he needed only to compute what it would cost 
him in equipage, table, clothes, and gaming-money, to 
maintain her in London according to her caprices ; and 
then to cast up how long his fifteen thousand a-year 
would last. 

His cousin had already formed this computation ; but, 
finding his reason less potent than his love, he remained 
fixed in his resolution; and Killegrew, yielding at length 
to his importunities, went and offered his cousin, bound. 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 243 

hand and foot, to the victorious fair. As he dreaded 
nothing more than a compliance on her part, so nothing 
could astonish him more than the contempt with which 
she received his proposal. The scorn with which she 
refused him, made him believe that she was sure of Lord 
Taaffe, and wonder how a girl like her could find out 
two men who would venture to marry her. He hastened 
to relate this refusal, with all the most aggravating cir- 
cumstances, as the best news he could carry to his cousin ; 
but his cousin would not believe him : he supposed that 
Killegrew disguised the truth, for the same reasons he 
had already alleged ; and not daring to mention the 
matter any more to him, he resolved to wait upon her 
himself. He summoned all his courage for the enter- 
prise, and got his compliment by heart ; but as soon as 
he had opened his mouth for the purpose, she told him 
he might have saved himself the trouble of calling on her 
about such a ridiculous affair; that she had already given 
her answer to Killegrew ; and that she neither had, nor 
ever should have, any other to give ; which words she 
accompanied with all the severity with which impor- 
tunate demands are usually refused. 

He was more affected than confounded at this repulse: 
everything became odious to him in London, and he 
himself more so than all the rest : he therefore left town, 
without taking leave of his cousin, M'ent back to his 
country-seat, and thinking it would be impossible for 
him to live without the inhuman fair, he resolved to 
neglect no opportunity in his power to hasten his death. 

But whilst, in order to indulge his sorrow, he had for- 
saken all intercourse with dogs and horses ; that is to 
say, renounced all the delights and endearments of a 
country squire, the scornful nymph, who was certainly 
mistaken in her reckoning, took the liberty of being 
brought to-bed in the face of the whole court. 

An adventure so public made no small noise, as we 
may very well imagine : all the prudes at court at once 



244 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAM MONT. 

broke loose upon it ; and those principally, whose age or 
persons secured them from any such scandal, were the 
most inveterate, and cried most loudly for justice. But 
the governess of the maids of honor, who might have 
been called to an account for it, affirmed that it was 
nothing at all, and that she was possessed of circum- 
stances which would at once silence all censorious 
tongues. She had an audience of the queen, in order to 
unfold the mystery ; and related to Her Majesty how 
everything had passed with her consent, that is to say, 
upon honorable terms; 

The queen sent to inquire of Lord Taafle, whether he 
acknowledged Miss Warmestre for his wife : to which 
he most respectfully returned for answer, that he neither 
acknowledged Miss Warmestre nor her child, and that 
he wondered why she should rather father it upon him 
than any other. The unfortunate Warmestre, more en- 
raged at this answer than at the loss of such a lover, 
quitted the court as soon as ever she was able, with a 
resolution of quitting the world the first opportunity. 

Killegrew, being upon the point of setting out upon a 
journey when this adventure happened, thought he might 
as well call upon his afflicted cousin in his way, to ac- 
quaint him with the circumstance ; and as soon as he saw 
him, without paying any attention to the delicacy of his 
love, or to his feelings, he bluntly told him the whole 
story : nor did he omit any coloring that could heighten 
his indignation, in order to make him burst with shame 
and resentment. 

We read that the gentle Tiridates quietly expired 
upon the recital of the death of Marianne ; but Kille- 
grew' s fond cousin falling devoutly upon his knees, and 
lifting up his eyes to Heaven, poured forth this exclama- 
tion : 

" Praised be the Lord for a small misfortune, which 
perhaps may prove the comfort of my life ! Who knows 
but the beauteous Warmestre will now accept of me for a 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 245 

husband ; and that I may have the happiness of passing 
the remainder of my days with a woman I adore, and by 
whom I may expect to have heirs ? " " Certainly, ' ' 
said Killegrew, more confounded than his cousin ought 
to have been on such an occasion, "you may depend 
upon having both : I make no manner of doubt but she 
will marry you as soon as ever she is recovered from her 
lying-in ; and it would be a great ill-nature in her, who 
already knows the way, to let you want children ; how- 
ever, in the meantime, I advise you to take that she has 
already, till you get more." 

Notwithstanding this raillery, all that was said did 
take place. This faithful lover courted her, as if she 
had been the chaste Lucretia, or the beauteous Helen : 
his passion even increased after marriage, and the gener- 
ous fair, first out of gratitude, and afterwards through 
inclination, never brought him a child of which he was 
not the father ; and though there have been many a 
happy couple in England, this certainly was the hap- 
piest. 

Some time after, Miss Bellenden, not being terrified 
by this example, had the prudence to. quit the court be- 
fore she was obliged so to do : the disagreeable Bardou 
followed her soon after; but for different reasons. Every 
person was at last completely tired of her saraband, as 
well as of her face ; and the king, that he might see 
neither of them any more, gave each a small pension for 
her subsistence. There now only remained little Mad- 
emoiselle de la Garde to be provided for : neither her 
virtues nor her vices were sufficiently conspicuous to 
occasion her being either dismissed from court or pressed 
to remain there : God knows what would have become 
of her, if a Mr. Silvius, * a man who had nothing of a 



^Afterwards Sir Gabriel Silvius. In Chamberlayne 's Anglics Notitia, 
1669, Gabriel de Sylviis is put dowu as one of the carvers to the queeu, 
and Mrs. de Sylviis, one of the six ehambriers or dressers to the queen. 



246 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

Roman in him except the name, had not taken the poor 
girl to be his wife. 

We have now shown how all these damsels deserved 
to be expelled, either for their irregularities, or for their 
ugliness ; and yet, those who replaced them found means 
to make them regretted, Miss Wells only excepted. 

She was a tall girl, exquisitely shaped : she dressed 
very genteel, walked like a goddess ; and yet, her face, 
though made like those that generally please the most, 
was unfortunately one of those that pleased the least : 
nature had spread over it a certain careless indolence 
that made her look sheepish. This gave but a bad 
opinion of her wit : and her wit had the ill-luck to make 
good that opinion : however, as she was fresh colored, 
and appeared inexperienced, the king, whom the fair 
Stewart did not render over nice as to the perfections of 
the mind, resolved to try whether the senses would not 
fare better with Miss Wells's person than fine sentiments 
with her understanding : nor was this experiment at- 
tended with much difficulty : she was of a loyal family ; 
and her father having faithfully served Charles the First, 
she thought it her duty not to revolt against Charles the 
Second. But this connection was not attended with very 
advantageous circumstances for herself ; some pretended 
that she did not hold out long enough, and that she sur- 
rendered at discretion before she was vigorously attacked; 
and others said, that His Majesty complained of certain 
other facilities still less pleasing. The Duke of Buck- 
ingham made a couplet upon this occasion, wherein the 
king, speaking to Progers, the confidant of his intrigues, 
puns upon the name of the fair one, to the following 
purport : 

He was afterwards knighted, and, 30th February, 1680, was sent am- 
bassador to the Dukes of Brunswick and Lunenburgh. Lord Orford 
says he was a native of Orange, and was attached to the princess-royal, 
afterwards to the Duke of York. He also says he was sent ambassador 
to Denmark. 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 247 

■" When the king felt the horrible depth of this Well, 
Tell me, Progers,* cried Charlie, where am I ? oh tell ! 
Had I sought the world's centre to find, I had found it, 
But this Well ! ne'er a plummet was made that could sound it." 

Miss Wells, notwithstanding this species of anagram 



-Edward Progers, Esq., was a younger son of Philip Progers, Esq., 
of the family of Garreddin, in Monmouthshire. His father was a 
colonel in the army, and equerry to James I. Edward was early in- 
troduced to court, and, after having been page to Charles I., was made 
groom of the bed-chamber to his son, while Prince of Wales. He 
attached himself to the king's interest during the war with the par- 
liament, with laudable fidelity. The following letter, from which 
antiquaries may derive the minute information that Charles II. did 
wear mourning for a whole year for his father, serves to show the fa- 
miliar style which Charles used to Progers, as well as his straitened 
circumstances while in the island of Jersey. 

" Progers, I wold have you (besides the embroidred sute) bring me a 
plaine ridding suite, with an innocent coate, the suites I have for horse- 
backe being so spotted and spoiled that they are not to be seene out of 
this island. The lining of the coate, and the petit toies are referred to 
your greate discretion, provided there want nothing when it comes to be 
put on. I doe not remember there was a belt, or a hat-band, in your 
directions for the embroidred suite, and those are so necessarie as you 
must not forget them. 

"Jearsey, 14th Jan. old stile, 1649. Charles R." 

" For Mr. Progers." 

By a letter from Cowley to Henry Bennet, dated 18th November, 1650, 
Mr. Progers appears to have been then active in his master's service. — 
Brown's Miscellanea Atilica, 1702, p. 153. In the lampoons of the 
times, particularly in those of Andrew Marvell, Mr. Progers is de- 
scribed as one devoted to assist his master's pleasures ; for which reason, 
perhaps, he was banished from the king's presence in 1650, by an act of 
the estates of Scotland, " as an evil instrument and bad counsellor of the 
king." He is said to have obtained several grants to take effect upon 
the restoration : but it does not appear that they took effect. In 1660, 
he was named, says Lord Orford, one of the knights of the royal oak, 
an order the king then intended to institute. By the same authority we 
are informed that he had permission from the king to build a house in 
Bushy Park, near Hampton Court, on condition that, after his death, it 
should revert to the crown. This was the house inhabited by the late 
Earl of Halifax. He represented the county of Brecon in parliament for 
seventeen years, but retired in 1679. On the death of his master, he 



248 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

upon her name, and these remarks upon her person,, 
shone the brightest among her new companions. These- 
were Miss Levingston, Miss Fielding, and Miss Boynton, 
who little deserve to be mentioned in these memoirs ; 
therefore we shall leave them in obscurity until it please 
fortune to draw them out of it. 

This was the new establishment of maids of honor 
to the queen. The Duchess of York, nearly about the 
same time, likewise recruited hers ; but showed, by a 
happier and more brilliant choice, that England pos- 
sessed an inexhaustible stock of beauties. But before 
we begin to speak of them, let us see who were the first 
maids of honor to her Royal Highness, and on what 
account they were removed. 

Besides Miss Blague and Miss Price, whom we have 
before mentioned, the establishment was composed of 
Miss Bagot and Miss Hobart, the president of the com- 
munity. 

Miss Blague, who never knew the true reason of her 
quarrel with the Marquis de Brisacier, took it up upon 
that fatal letter she had received from him, wherein, 
without acquainting her that Miss Price was to wear the 
same sort of gloves and yellow riband as herself, he had 
only complimented her upon her hair, her fair com- 
plexion, and her eyes marcassins. This word she im- 
agined must signify something particularly wonderful, 
since her eyes were compared to it ; and being desirous, 
some time afterwards, to know all the energy of the ex- 
pression, she asked the meaning of the French word 

retired from public life. Mr. Progers died, says L,e Neve, "December 
31st, or January 1st, 1713, aged 96, of the anguish of cutting teeth, he 
having cut four new teeth, and had several ready to cut, which so in- 
flamed his gums, that he died thereof." He was in low circumstances 
before his death, and applied to King James for relief, with what effect 
is not known. Mr. Progers had a family by his wife Elizabeth Wells ; 
and the scandal-bearers of the time remarked, that his eldest daughter 
Philippa, afterwards Mrs. Croxel, bore a strong resemblance to Charles; 
II. Monumenta Anglicana, 1717, p. 273. 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 249 

marcassin. As there are no wild boars in England, those 
to whom she addressed herself told her that it signified 
a young pig. This scandalous simile confirmed her in 
the belief she entertained of his perfidy. Brisacier, more 
amazed at her change, than she was offended at his 
supposed calumny, looked upon her as a woman still 
more capricious than insignificant, and never troubled 

himself more about her ; but Sir Yarborough, of as 

fair a complexion as herself, made her an offer of 
marriage in the height of her resentment, and was 
accepted : chance made up this match, I suppose, as an 
experiment to try what such a white-haired union would 
produce. 

Miss Price was witty ; and as her person was not very 
likely to attract many admirers, which, however, she 
was resolved to have, she was far from being coy when 
an occasion offered : she did not so much as make any 
terms : she was violent in her resentments, as well as in 
her attachments, which had exposed her to some incon- 
veniences ; and she had very indiscreetly quarrelled with 
a young girl whom Lord Rochester admired. This 
connection, which till then had been a secret, she had 
the imprudence to publish to the whole world, and 
thereby drew upon herself the most dangerous enemy in 
the universe : never did any mau write with more ease, 
humor, spirit, and delicacy ; but he was at the same 
time the most severe satirist. 

Poor Miss Price, who had thus voluntarily provoked 
his resentment, was daily exposed in some new shape : 
there was every day some new song or other, the subject 
of which was her conduct, and the burden her name. 
How was it possible for her to bear up against these 
attacks, in a court, where every person was eager to 
obtain the most insignificant trifle that came from the 
pen of Lord Rochester? The loss of her lover, and the 
discovery that attended it, was only wanting to com- 
plete the persecution that was raised against her. 



250 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

About this time died Dongan,* a gentleman of merit, 
who was succeeded by Durfort, afterwards Earl of 
Feversham, f in the post of lieutenant of the duke's life 
guards. Miss Price having tenderly loved him, his 
death plunged her into a gulf of despair ; but the in- 
ventory of his effects had almost deprived her of her 
senses : there was in it a certain little box sealed up on all 
sides : it was addressed in the deceased's own handwrit- 
ing to Miss Price ; but instead of receiving it, she had not 
even the courage to look upon it. The governess 



* The only notice of this person I have anywhere seen , is in the fol- 
lowing extract of a letter from Sir Richard Fanshaw to Lord Arling- 
ton, dated 4th June, 1664. — "I ought not, in justice to an honorable 
person, to conclude before I acquaint your honor, that I have this day 
seen a letter, whereby it is certified, from my Lord Dongan, (now at 
Heres, ) that, if there were any ship in Cadiz bound for Tangier, he 
would go over in her, to do His Majesty what service he could in that 
garrison ; which, he saith, he fears wants good officers very much." — 
Fanshaw's Letters, vol. i., p. 194. 

f Louis de Duras, Earl of Feversham, a native of France, being son 
of the Duke de Duras, and brother to the last duke of that name, as 
also to the Duke de Lorge. His mother was sister to the great Turenne, 
of the princely house of Bouillon. After the restoration he came to 
England, was naturalized, and behaved with great gallantry in the sea- 
fight with the Dutch, in 1665. When he first came to England, he 
bore the name of Durfort, and the title of Marquis of Blancfort. In 
the 24th, Charles II. he was created Baron Duras of Holdenby, in the 
county of Northampton ; and having married Mary, the eldest daughter 
and co-heir of Sir George Sondes, of Lees Court, in the county of 
Kent, who had been created Earl of Feversham, the same title was 
limited to him, and he succeeded to it on the death of his father-in-law. 
Besides these honors, King Charles preferred him to the command of 
the third troop of horse guards, afterwards promoted him to the second, 
and then to the first. In 1679, he was made master of the horse to 
Queen Katharine, and afterwards lord-chamberlain to Her Majesty. 
Upon King James's accession he was admitted into the privy council, 
and was commander-in-chief of the forces sent against the Duke of 
Monmouth. After the revolution, he continued lord-chamberlain to 
the queen-dowager, and master of the royal college of St. Katherine's, 
near the Tower. He died April 8th, 1709, aged 68, and was buried in 
the Savoy, in the Strand, London; but removed, March 2ist, 1740, to 
Westminster Abbey. 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 251 

thought it became her in prudence to receive it, on Miss 
Price's refusal, and her duty to deliver it to the duchess 
herself, supposing it was filled with many curious and 
precious commodities, of which perhaps she might make 
some advantage. Though the duchess was not alto- 
gether of the same opinion, she had the curiosity to see 
what was contained in a box sealed up in a manner so 
particularly careful, and therefore caused it to be opened 
in the presence of some ladies, who happened then to be 
in her closet. 

All kinds of love trinkets were found in it; and all 
these favors, it appeared, came from the tender-hearted 
Miss Price. It was difficult to comprehend how a single 
person could have furnished so great a collection ; for, 
besides counting the pictures, there was hair of all de- 
scriptions, wrought into bracelets, lockets, and into a 
thousand other different devices, wonderful to see. After 
these were three or four packets of letters, of so tender a 
nature, and so full of raptures and languors so naturally 
expressed, that the duchess could not endure the reading 
of any more than the two first. 

Her Royal Highness was sorry that she had caused 
the box to be opened in such good company ; for being 
before such witnesses, she rightly judged it was impossi- 
ble to stifle this adventure; and, at the same time, there 
being no possibility of retaining any longer such a maid 
of honor, Miss Price had her valuables restored to her, 
with orders to go and finish her lamentations, or to 
console herself for the loss of her lover, in some other 
place. 

Miss Hobart's character was at that time as uncommon 
in England, as her person was singular, in a country 
where, to be young, and not to be in some degree hand- 
some, is a reproach; she had a good shape, rather a bold 
air, and a great deal of wit, which was well cultivated, 
without having much discretion. She was likewise pos- 
sessed of a great deal of vivacity, with an irregular fancy; 



252 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

there was a great deal of fire in her eyes, which, however,, 
produced no effect upon the beholders : and she had a ten- 
der heart, whose sensibility some pretended was alone 
in favor of the fair sex. 

Miss Bagot * was the first that gained her tenderness 
and affection, which she returned at first with equal 
warmth and sincerity; but perceiving that all her friend- 
ship was insufficient to repay that of Miss Hobart, she 
yielded the conquest to the governess's niece, who 
thought herself as much honored by it as her aunt 
thought herself obliged by the care she took of the young 
girl. 

It was not long before the report, whether true or false, 
of this singularity, spread through the whole court, 
where people, being yet so uncivilized as never to have 
heard of that kind of refinement in love of ancient Greece, 
imagined that the illustrious Hobart, who seemed so par- 
ticularly attached to the fair sex, was in reality some- 
thing more than she appeared to be. 

* Elizabeth, daughter of Hervey Bagot, second son of Sir Hervey 
Bagot. She married first Charles Berkley, Earl of Falmouth, and, 
after his death, Charles Sackville, who became the first Duke of Dorset. 
From the pen of a satirist much dependence is not to be placed for the 
truth of facts. This lady's character is treated by Dryden and Mul' 
grave with very little respect, in the following lines, extracted from 
"The Essay on Satire : " 

"Thus Dorset, purring like a thoughtful cat, 
Married ; but wiser puss ne'er thought of that : 
And first he worried her with railing rhyme, 
Like Pembroke's mastiffs at his kindest time ; 
Then for one night sold all his slavish life, 
A teeming widow, but a barren wife ; 
Swell'd by contact of such a fulsome toad, 
He lugged about the matrimonial load ; 
Till fortune, blindly kind as well as he, 
Has ill restored him to his liberty ; 
Which he would use in his old sneaking way, 
Drinking all night, and dozing all the day ; 
Dull as Ned Howard, whom his brisker times 
Had famed for dulness in malicious rhymes." 




(3/U^cr /''■/// . /j,r,r,'/ t'. 'ffr J' /(:>,> <'J ■ A f / /j s /■/?/// . 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 253 

Satirical ballads soon began to compliment her upon 
these new attributes ; and upon the insinuations that 
were therein made, her companions began to fear her. 
The governess, alarmed at these reports, consulted Lord 
Rochester upon the danger to which her niece was ex- 
posed. She could not have applied to a fitter person : 
he immediately advised her to take her niece out of the 
hands of Miss Hobart, and contrived matters so well that 
she fell into his own. The duchess, who had too much 
generosity not to treat as visionary what was imputed to 
Miss Hobart, and too much justice to condemn her upon 
the faith of lampoons, removed her from the society of 
the maids of honor, to be an attendant upon her own 
person. 

Miss Bagot was the only one who was really possessed 
of virtue and beauty among these maids of honor : she 
had beautiful and regular features, and that sort of brown 
complexion, which, when in perfection, is so particularly 
fascinating, and more especially in England, where it is 
uncommon. There was an involuntary blush almost 
continually upon her cheek, without having anything 
to blush for. Lord Falmouth cast his eyes upon her : 
his addresses were better received than those of Miss 
Hobart, and some time after Cupid raised her from the 
post of maid of honor to the duchess to a rank which 
might have been envied by all the young ladies in 
England. 

The Duchess of York, in order to form her new court, 
resolved to see all the young persons that offered them- 
selves, and, without any regard to recommendations, to 
choose none but the handsomest. 

At the head of this new assembly appeared Miss Jen- 
nings and Miss Temple ; and indeed they so entirely 
eclipsed the other two, that we shall speak of them only. 

Miss Jennings, * adorned with all the blooming treas- 

* This lady was one of the daughters and co-heiresses of Richard Jen- 



254 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

ures of youth, had the fairest and brightest complexion 
that ever was seen : her hair was of a most beauteous flaxen : 
there was something particularly lively and animated 
in her countenance, which preserved her from that in- 
sipidity which is frequently an attendant on a complexion 
so fair. Her mouth was not the smallest, but it was the 
handsomest mouth in the world. Nature had endowed 
her with all those charms which cannot be expressed, 
and the graces had given the finishing stroke to them. 
The turn of her face was exquisitely fine, and her swell- 
ing neck was as fair and as bright as her face. In a word, 
her person gave the idea of Aurora, or the goddess of the 
spring, " such as youthful poets fancy when they love." 
But as it would have been unjust that a single person 
should have engrossed all the treasures of beauty without 
any defect, there was something wanting in her hands 
and arms to render them worthy of the rest: her nose was. 

nings, Esq., of Sundridge, in the county of Hertford, and elder sister 
to the celebrated Duchess of Marlborough. Her name was Frances. 
She married George Hamilton, mentioned in these Memoirs ; and after 
his death, took to her second husband, Richard Talbot, already men- 
tioned, created Duke of Tyrconnel by James II., whose fortunes he fol- 
lowed. Lord Melfort, secretary to that prince, appears to have con- 
ceived no very favorable opinion of this lady ; for in a letter to his 
master, dated October, 1689, he says, "there is one other thing, if it 
could be effectuated, were of infinite use ; which is the getting the- 
Duchess of Tyrconnel, for her health, to come into France. I did not 
know she had been so well known here as she is ; but the terms they 
give her, and which, for your sendee, I may repeat unto you, is, that 
she has (fame la plus noire qui se puisse concevoir). I think it would 
help to keep that peace so necessary for you, and prevent that cabal- 
ling humor which has very ill effects." — Macphersori 's State Papers, 
vol. i. In 1699 she is mentioned in a letter from the Earl of Man- 
chester to Lord Jersey, as one of the needy Jacobites of King James's 
court, to whom 3,000 crowns, part of that monarch's pension, had been 
distributed.— Coles's State Papers, p. 53. In 1705 she was in England, 
and had an interview with her brother-in-law, the Duke of Marlbor- 
ough, with whose family she seems not to have lived in any terms of 
cordiality. — Macphersori, vol. i. In the latter part of her life she re- 
sided in Ireland, and died there, 6th March, 1 730-1, at a very advanced, 
age. — She was buried in the cathedral of St. Patrick's. 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 



255 



not the most elegant, and her eyes gave some relief, 
whilst her mouth and her other charms pierced the heart 
with a thousand darts. 

With this amiable person she was full of wit and 
sprightliness, and all her actions and motions were un- 
affected and easy : her conversation was bewitching, 
when she had a mind to please : piercing and delicate 
when disposed to raillery ; but as her imagination was 




MISS TEMPLE. 



subject to flights, and as she began to speak frequently 
before she had done thinking, her expressions did not 
always convey what she wished ; sometimes exceeding, 
and at others falling short of her ideas. 

Miss Temple,* nearly of the same age, was brown 



* Anne, daughter of Thomas Temple of Franktou, in the county of 
Warwick ; by Rebecca, daughter of Sir Nicholas Carew, of Beddington, 
in Surrey, knight. She afterwards became the second wife of Sir 
Charles Lyttelton, by whom she had five sons, and eight daughters^ 



256 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

compared with the other : she had a good shape, fine 
teeth, languishing eyes, a fresh complexion, an agree- 
able smile, and a lively air. Such was the outward 
form ; but it would be difficult to describe the rest ; for 
she was simple and vain, credulous and suspicious, co- 
quettish and prudent, very self-sufficient and very silly. 

As soon as these new stars appeared at the duchess's 
court, all eyes were fixed upon them, and every one 
formed some design upon one or other of them, some with 
honorable, and others with dishonest intentions. Miss 
Jennings soon distinguished herself, and left her com- 
panions no other admirers but such as remained constant 
from hopes of success : her brilliant charms attracted 
at first sight, and the charms of her wit secured her con- 
quests. 

The Duke of York having persuaded himself that she 
was part of his property, resolved to pursue his claim by 
the same title whereby his brother had appropriated to 
himself the favors of Miss Wells ; but he did not find her 
inclined to enter into his service, though she had engaged 
in that of the duchess. She would not pay any attention 
to the perpetual ogling with which he at first attacked 
her. Her eyes were always wandering on other objects, 
when those of his Royal Highness were looking for 
them ; and if by chance he caught any casual glance, 
she did not even blush. This made him resolve to 
change his manner of attack : ogling having proved 
ineffectual, he took an opportunity to speak to her ; and 
this was still worse. I know not in what strain he told 
his case ; but it is certain the oratory of the tongue was 
not more prevailing than the eloquence of his eyes. 

Miss Jennings had both virtue and pride, and the pro- 
posals of the duke were consistent with neither the one 
nor the other. Although from her great vivacity one 

She was grandmother of the first Lord Lyttelton ; and died 27th August, 
1718. Her husband, Sir Charles Lyttelton, lived to the advanced age 
of 86 years ; and died at Hagley, May 2d, 1716. 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 257 

might suppose that she was not capable of much reflec- 
tion, yet she had furnished herself with some very salu- 
tary maxims for the conduct of a young person of her 
age. The first was, that a lady ought to be young to 
enter the court with advantage, and not old to leave it 
with a good grace : that she could not maintain herself 
there but by a glorious resistance, or by illustrious 
foibles : and that, in so dangerous a situation, she ought 
to use her utmost endeavors not to dispose of her heart 
until she gave her hand. 

Entertaining such sentiments, she had far less trouble 
to resist the duke's temptations, than to disengage her- 
self from his perseverance : she was deaf to all treaties 
for a settlement, with which her ambition was sounded : 
.and all offers of presents succeeded still worse. What 
was then to be done to conquer an extravagant virtue 
that would not hearken to reason ? He was ashamed to 
suffer a giddy young girl to escape, whose inclinations 
ought in some manner to correspond with the vivacity 
that shone forth in all her actions, and who nevertheless 
thought proper to be serious when no such thing as 
seriousness was required of her. 

After he had attentively considered her obstinate be- 
havior, he thought that writing might perhaps succeed, 
though ogling, speeches, and embassies had failed. 
Paper receives everything, but it unfortunately happened 
that she would not receive the paper. Every day billets, 
containing the tenderest expressions, and most magnifi- 
cent promises, were slipped into her pockets, or into her 
muff: this, however, could not be done unperceived ; 
and the malicious little gipsy took care that those who 
saw them slip in should likewise see them fall out, un- 
perused and unopened ; she only shook her muff, or 
pulled out her handkerchief ; as soon as ever his back 
was turned, his billets fell about her like hailstones, and 
-whoever pleased might take them up. The duchess was 
frequently a witness of this conduct, but could not find 

17 



258 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

in her heart to chide her for her want of respect to the 
duke. After this, the charms and prudence of Miss 
Jennings were the only subjects of conversation in the 
two courts : the courtiers could not comprehend how a 
young creature, brought directly from the country to 
court, should so soon become its ornament by her attrac- 
tions, and its example by her conduct. 

The king was of opinion that those who had attacked 
her had ill-concerted their measures ; for he thought it 
unnatural that she should neither be tempted by prom- 
ises, nor gained by importunity : she, especially, who in 
all probability had not imbibed such severe precepts 
from the prudence of her mother, who had never tasted 
anything more delicious than the plums and apricots of 
Saint Albans.* Being resolved to try her himself, he 
was particularly pleased with the great novelty that ap- 
peared in the turn of her wit, and in the charms of her 
person ; and curiosity, which at first induced him to 
make the trial, was soon changed into a desire of suc- 
ceeding in the experiment. God knows what might 
have been the consequence, for he greatly excelled in 
wit, and besides he was king : two qualities of no small 
consideration. The resolutions of the fair Jennings were 
commendable, and very judicious ; but yet she was won- 
derfully pleased with wit ; and royal majesty prostrate 
at the feet of a young person, is very persuasive. Miss 
Stewart, however, would not consent to the king's pro- 
ject. 

She immediately took the alarm, and desired His 
Majesty to leave to the duke, his brother, the care of 
tutoring the duchess's maids of honor, and only to attend 
to the management of his own flock, unless His Majesty 
would in return allow her to listen to certain proposals 
of a settlement which she did not think disadvantageous. 

* This town is in the neighborhood of Sundridge, where Miss Jen- 
nings's family resided. 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 259 

This menace being of a serious nature, the king obeyed ; 
and Miss Jennings had all the additional honor which 
arose from this adventure : it both added to her reputa- 
tion, and increased the number of her admirers. Thus 
she continued to triumph over the liberties of others 
without ever losing her own : her hour was not yet 
come, but it was not far distant; the particulars of which 
we shall relate as soon as we have given some account 
of the conduct of her companion. 

Though Miss Temple's person was particularly engag- 
ing, it was nevertheless eclipsed by that of Miss Jen- 
nings ; but she was still more excelled by the other's 
superior mental accomplishments. Two persons, very 
capable to impart understanding, had the gift been com- 
municable, undertook at the same time to rob her of the 
little she really possessed : these were Lord Rochester 
and Miss Hobart : the first began to mislead her by read- 
ing to her all his compositions, as if she alone had been 
a proper judge of them. He never thought proper to 
flatter her upon her personal accomplishments ; but told 
her that if heaven had made him susceptible of the im- 
pressions of beauty, it would not have been possible for 
him to have escaped her chains ; but not being, thank 
God, affected with anything but wit, he had the happi- 
ness of enjoying the most agreeable conversation in the 
world without running any risk. After so sincere a con- 
fession, he either presented to her a copy of verses, or a 
new song, in which whoever dared to come in competi- 
tion in any respect with Miss Temple was laid prostrate 
before her charms, most humbly to solicit pardon : such 
flattering insinuations so completely turned her head 
that it was a pity to see her. 

The duchess took notice of it, and well knowing the 
extent of both their geniuses, she saw the precipice into 
which the poor girl was running headlong without per- 
ceiving it : but as it is no less dangerous to forbid a con- 
nection that is not yet thought of, than it is difficult to 



260 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

put an end to one that is already well established, Miss 
Hobart was charged to take care, with all possible dis- 
cretion, that these frequent and long conversations might 
not be attended with any dangerous consequences : with 
pleasure she accepted the commission, and greatly flat- 
tered herself with success. 

She had already made all necessary advances to gain 
possession of her confidence and friendship ; and Miss 
Temple, less suspicious of her than of Lord Rochester, 
made all imaginable returns. She was greedy of praise, 
and loved all manner of sweetmeats, as much as a child 
of nine or ten years old : her taste was gratified in both 
these respects. Miss Hobart having the superintendence 
of the duchess's baths, her apartment joined them, in 
which there was a closet stored with all sorts of sweet- 
meats and liqueurs : the closet suited Miss Temple's 
taste, as exactly as it gratified Miss Hobart' s inclination, 
to have something that could allure her. 

Summer, being now returned, brought back with it 
the pleasures and diversions that are its inseparable at- 
tendants. One day when the ladies had been taking the 
air on horseback, Miss Temple, on her return from riding, 
alighted at Miss Hobart' s, in order to recover her fatigue 
at the expense of the sweetmeats, which she knew were 
there at her service ; but before she began she desired 
Miss Hobart' s permission to undress herself and change 
her linen in her apartment; which request was immedi- 
ately complied with: "I was just going to propose it to 
you," said Miss Hobart, " not but that you are as charm- 
ing as an angel in your riding habit, but there is nothing 
so comfortable as a loose dress, and being at one's ease : 
you cannot imagine, my dear Temple," continued she, 
embracing her, "how much you oblige me by this free, 
unceremonious conduct; but, above all, I am enchanted 
with your particular attention to cleanliness: how greatly 
you differ in this, as in many other things, from that silly 
creature, Jennings ! Have you remarked how all our 




QyvudJ cTZwtzA-fr a/?i-tz> ^MiJj C^&mAJe/ faovur/,; . / 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 261 

court fops admire her for her brilliant complexion, which 
perhaps, after all, is not wholly her own ; and for blun- 
ders, which are truly original, and which they are such 
fools as to mistake for wit: I have not conversed with her 
long enough to perceive in what her wit consists; but of 
this I am certain, that if it is not better than her feet, it 
is no great matter. What stories have I heard of her 
sluttishness ! No cat ever dreaded water so much as she 
does: fie upon her ! Never to wash for her own comfort, 
and only to attend to those parts which must necessarily 
be seen, such as the neck and hands." 

Miss Temple swallowed all this with even greater 
pleasure than the sweetmeats; and the officious Hobart, 
not to lose time, was helping her off with her clothes, 
while the chambermaid was coming. She made some 
objections to this at first, being unwilling to occasion 
that trouble to a person, who, like Miss Hobart, had 
been advanced to a place of dignity ; but she was over- 
ruled by her, and assured that it was with the greatest 
pleasure she showed her that small mark of civility. 
The collation being finished, and Miss Temple undressed: 
1 ' Let us retire, ' ' said Miss Hobart, ' ' to the bathing- 
closet, where we may enjoy a little conversation secure 
from any impertinent visit." Miss Temple consented, 
and both of them sitting down on a couch: "You are too 
young, my dear Temple, ' ' said she, ' ' to know the baseness 
of men in general, and too short a time acquainted with 
the court to know the character of its inhabitants. I will 
give you a short sketch of the principal persons, to the 
best of my knowledge, without injury to any one, for I 
abominate the trade of scandal. 

' ' In the first place, then, you ought to set it down as 
an undoubted fact that all courtiers are deficient either 
in honesty, good sense, judgment, wit, or sincerity; that 
is to say, if any of them by chance possess some one of 
these qualities, you may depend upon it he is defective 
in the rest : sumptuous in their equipages, deep play, a 



262 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

great opinion of their own merit, and contempt of that 
of others, are their chief characteristics. 

' ' Interest or pleasure are the motives of all their ac- 
tions: those who are led by the first would sell God Al- 
mighty, as Judas sold his Master, and that for less money. 
I could relate you a thousand notable instances of this, if 
I had time. As for the sectaries of pleasure, or those who 
pretend to be such, for they are not all so bad as they en- 
deavor to make themselves appear, these gentlemen pay 
no manner of regard either to promises, oaths, law, or 
religion; that is to say, they are literally no respecters of 
persons; they care neither for God nor man, if they can 
but gain their ends. They look upon maids of honor only 
as amusements, placed expressly at court for their enter- 
tainment; and the more merit any one has, the more she 
is exposed to thgir impertinence, if she gives any ear to 
them; and to their malicious calumnies, when she ceases 
to attend to them. As for husbands, this is not the place 
to find them ; for unless money or caprice make up the 
match, there is but little hopes of being married: virtue 
and beauty in this respect here are equally useless. 
L,ady Falmouth is the only instance of a maid of honor 
well married without a portion; and if you were to ask 
her poor weak husband for what reason he married her, 
I am persuaded that he can assign none, unless it be her 
great red ears and broad feet. As for the pale Lady 
Yarborough, who appeared so proud of her match, she is 
wife, to be sure, of a great country bumpkin, who, the 
very week after their marriage, bid her take her farewell 
of the town forever, in consequence of five or six thou- 
sand pounds a year he enjoys on the borders of Cornwall. 
Alas ! poor Miss Blague ! I saw her go away about this 
time twelvemonth, in a coach with four such lean horses, 
that I cannot believe she is yet halfway to her miserable 
little castle. What can be the matter ! all the girls seem 
afflicted with the rage of wedlock, and however small 
their portion of charms may be, they think it only nee- 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 



263 



essary to show themselves at court in order to pick and 
choose their men : but was this in reality the case, the 
being a wife is the most wretched condition imaginable 
for a person of nice sentiments. Believe me, my dear 
Temple, the pleasures of matrimony are so inconsiderable 
in comparison with its inconveniences, that I cannot 
imagine how any reasonable creature can resolve upon 
it: rather fly, therefore, from this irksome engagement 
than court it. Jealousy, formerly a stranger to these 
happy isles, is now coming into fashion, with many re- 
cent examples of which you are acquainted. However 
brilliant the phantom may appear, suffer not yourself to 
be caught by its splendor, and never be so weak as to 
transform your slave into your tyrant : as long as you 
preserve your own liberty, you will be mistress of that of 
others. I will relate to you a very recent proof of the 
perfidy of man to our sex, and of the impunity they ex- 
perience in all attempts upon our innocence. The Earl 
of Oxford* fell in love with a handsome, graceful actress 
belonging to the duke's theatre, who performed to per- 
fection, particularly the part of Roxana, in a very fash- 

*This was Aubrey de Vere, the last Earl of Oxford of that name, 
and the twentieth and last earl of that family. He was chief justice in 
eyre ; and in the reign of Charles II. , lord of the bed-chamber, privy 
councillor, colonel of the royal regiment of horse guards, and lord- 
lieutenant of the county of Essex ; and lieutenant-general of the forces 
in the reign of William III., and also knight of the garter. He died 
March 12, 1702, aged 80 years and upwards, and was buried in West- 
minster Abbey. The author of a History of the English Stage, published 
by Curl, 1741, 8vo., says, that Mrs. Marshall, a celebrated actress, more 
known by the name of Roxana, from acting that part, was the person 
deceived by the Earl of Oxford in this manner. The particulars of the 
story, as there related, do not materially vary from the present account 
of the transaction. A more detailed narrative of this seduction is 
given in Madame Dunois's Memoirs of the Court of England, part ii., 
p. 71. Mrs. Marshall, who was the original Roxana in Lee's Rival 
Queens, belonged not to the duke's, but the king's theatre. Lord 
Orford, I know not on what authority, has given the name of Mrs. Bar- 
ker to this lady ; a name totally unknown, I believe, in the annals of 
the stage. 



264 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

ionable new play, insomuch that she ever after retained 
that name : this creature being both very virtuous and 
very modest, or if you please, wonderfully obstinate, 
proudly rejected the addresses and presents of the Earl 
of Oxford. This resistance inflamed his passion: he had 
recourse to invectives, and even to spells; but all in vain. 
This disappointment had such an effect upon him that 
he could neither eat nor drink ; this did not signify to 
him; but his passion at length became so violent, that he 
could neither play nor smoke. In this extremity love 
had recourse to Hymen ; the Karl of Oxford, one of the 
first peers of the realm, is, you know, a very handsome 
man: he is of the order of the garter, which greatly adds 
to an air naturally noble. In short, from his outward 
appearance, you would suppose he was really possessed 
of some sense ; but as soon as ever you hear him speak, 
you are perfectly convinced of the contrary. This pas- 
sionate lover presented her with a promise of marriage, 
in due form, signed with his own hand: she would not, 
however, rely upon this, but the next day she thought: 
there could be no danger, when the earl himself came 
to her lodgings attended by a clergyman, and another 
man for a witness : the marriage was accordingly solem- 
nized with all due ceremonies, in the presence of one of 
her fellow-players, who attended as a witness on her 
part. You will suppose, perhaps, that the new countess 
had nothing to do but to appear at court according to 
her rank, and to display the earl's arms upon her carriage. 
This was far from being the case. When examination 
was made concerning the marriage, it was found to be a 
mere deception ; it appeared that the pretended priest 
was one of my lord's trumpeters, and the witness his 
kettle-drummer. The parson and his companion never 
appeared after the ceremony was over; and as for the 
other witness, they endeavored to persuade her, that the 
Sultana Roxana might have supposed, in some part or 
other of a play, that she was really married. It was all 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 265 

to no purpose, that the poor creature claimed the protec- 
tion of the laws of God and man, both which were vio- 
lated and abused, as well as herself, by this infamous 
imposition ; in vain did she throw herself at the king's 
feet to demand justice: she had only to rise up again 
without redress ; and happy might she think herself to 
receive an annuity of one thousand crowns, and to resume 
the name of Roxana, instead of Countess of Oxford. 
You will say, perhaps, that she was only a player ; that 
all men have not the same sentiments as the earl ; and, 
that one may at least believe them, when they do but 
render justice to such merit, as yours. But still do not 
believe them, though I know you are liable to it, as you 
have admirers; for all are not infatuated with Miss Jen- 
nings: the handsome Sidney ogles you ; Lord Rochester 
is delighted with your conversation ; and the most serious 

Sir Lyttelton forsakes his natural gravity in favor 

of your charms. As for the first, I confess his figure is 
very likely to engage the inclinations of a young person 
like yourself ; but were his outward form attended with 
other accomplishments, which I know it is not, and that 
his sentiments in your favor were as real as he endeavors 
to persuade you they are, and as you deserve, yet I 
would not advise you to form any connections with him, 
for reasons which I cannot tell you at present. 

"Sir Lyttelton * is undoubtedly in earnest, since 

he appears ashamed of the condition to which you have 
reduced him ; and I really believe if he could get the 
better of those vulgar chimerical apprehensions, of being 
what is vulgarly called a cuckold, the good man would 
marry you, and you would be his representative in his 
little government, where you might merrily pass your 
days in casting up the weekly bills of housekeeping and 
in darning old napkins. What a glory would it be to 
have a Cato for a husband, whose speeches are as many 



* Sir Charles Lyttelton : of whom see note on p. 255. 






266 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

lectures, and whose lectures are composed of nothing but 
ill-nature and censure ! 

"Lord Rochester is, without contradiction, the most 
witty man in all England ; but then he is likewise the 
most unprincipled, and devoid even of the least tincture 
of honor ; he is dangerous to our sex alone ; and that to 
such a degree that there is not a woman who gives ear 
to him three times but she irretrievably loses her reputa- 
tion. No woman can escape him, for he has her in his 
writings, though his other attacks be ineffectual ; and in 
the age we live in, the one is as bad as the other in the 
eye of the public. In the meantime nothing is more 
dangerous than the artful, insinuating manner with 
which he gains possession of the mind : he applauds your 
taste, submits to your sentiments, and at the very instant 
that he himself does not believe a single word of what 
he is saying, he makes you believe it all. I dare lay a 
wager, that from the conversation you have had with 
him, you thought him one of the most honorable and 
sincerest men living; for my part I cannot imagine what 
he means by the assiduity he pays you : not but your 
accomplishments are sufficient to excite the adoration 
and praise of the whole world ; but had he even been so 
fortunate as to have gained your affections, he would not 
know what to do with the loveliest creature at court: for 
it is a long time since his debauches have brought him 
to order, with the assistance of the favors of all the com- 
mon street- walkers. See then, my dear Temple, what 
horrid malice possesses him, to the ruin and confusion 
of innocence ! A wretch ! to have no other design in his 
addresses and assiduities to Miss Temple, but to give a 
greater air of probability to the calumnies with which 
he has loaded her. You look upon me with astonish- 
ment, and seem to doubt the truth of what I advance ; 
but I do not desire you to believe me without evidence : 
Here, ' ' said she, drawing a paper out of her pocket, ' ' see 
what a copy of verses he has made in your praise, while 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 267 

lie lulls your credulity to rest, by nattering speeches and 
feigned respect." 

After saying this, the perfidious Hobart showed her 
half-a-dozen couplets full of strained invective and scan- 
dal, which Rochester had made against the former maids 
of honor. This severe and cutting lampoon was prin- 
cipally levelled against Miss Price, whose person he 
took to pieces in the most frightful and hideous manner 
imaginable. Miss Hobart had substituted the name of 
Temple instead of Price, which she made to agree both 
with the measure and tune of the song. This effectually 
answered Hobart' s intentions: the credulous Temple no 
sooner heard her sing the lampoon, but she firmly be- 
lieved it to be made upon herself ; and in the first trans- 
ports of her rage, having nothing so much at heart as to 
give the lie to the fictions of the poet : "Ah ! as for this, 
my dear Hobart," said she, " I can bear it no longer : I 
do not pretend to be so handsome as some others ; but 
as for the defects that villain charges me with, I dare 
say, my dear Hobart, there is no woman more free from 
them : we are alone, and I am almost inclined to con- 
vince you by ocular demonstration." Miss Hobart was 
too complaisant to oppose this motion ; but, although 
she soothed her mind by extolling all her beauties, in 
opposition to Lord Rochester's song, Miss Temple was 
almost driven to distraction by rage and astonishment, 
that the first man she ever attended to should, in his 
conversation with her, not even make use of a single 
word of truth, but that he should likewise have the un- 
paralleled cruelty falsely to accuse her of defects ; and 
not being able to find words capable of expressing her 
anger and resentment, she began to weep like a child. 

Miss Hobart used all her endeavors to comfort her, 
and chid her for being so much hurt with the invectives 
of a person whose scandalous impostures were too well 
known to make any impression : she, however, advised 
her never to speak to him any more, for that was the 



268 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 



only method to disappoint his designs ; that contempt 
and silence were, on such occasions, much preferable to 
any explanation, and that if he could once obtain a hear- 
ing, he would be justified, but she would be ruined. 

Miss Hobart was not wrong in giving her this counsel : 
she knew that an explanation would betray her, and that 
there would be no quarter for her if Lord Rochester had 
so fair an opportunity of renewing his former panegyrics 
upon her; but her precaution was in vain: this conversa- 
tion had been heard from one end to the other by the 
governess's niece, who was blessed with a most faithful 
memory ; and having that very day an appointment with 
Lord Rochester, she conned it over three or four times, 
that she might not forget one single word, when she 
should have the honor of relating it to her lover. We 
shall show in the next chapter what were the conse- 
quences resulting from it. 




MARY KIRK (MISS WARMESTRE). 




CHAPTER X. 



Thk conversation before related was agreeable only 
to Miss Hobart; for if Miss Temple was entertained with 
its commencement, she was so much the more irritated 
by its conclusion : this indignation was succeeded by the 
curiosity of knowing the reason why, if Sidney had a 
real esteem for her, she should not be allowed to pay 
some attention to him. The tender-hearted Hobart, un- 
able to refuse her any request, promised her this piece 
-of confidence, as soon as she should be secure of her 
conduct towards Lord Rochester : for this she only de- 
sired a trial of her sincerity for three days, after which 
she assured her she would acquaint her with everything 
she wished to know. Miss Temple protested she no 
longer regarded Lord Rochester but as a monster of per- 
fidiousness, and vowed, by all that was sacred, that she 
would never listen to him, much less speak to him, as 
long as she lived. 

As soon as they retired from the closet, Miss Sarah 
came out of the bath, where, during all this conversa- 
tion, she had been almost perished with cold, without 
daring to complain. This little gipsy had, it seems, 
obtained leave of Miss Hobart' s woman to bathe herself 
unknown to her mistress ; and having, I know not how, 

(269) 



270 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

found means to fill one of the baths with cold water,. 
Miss Sarah had just got into it, when they were both, 
alarmed with the arrival of the other two. A glass par- 
tition enclosed the room where the baths were, and In- 
dian silk curtains, which drew on the inside, screened 
those that were bathing. Miss Hobart's chamber-maid 
had only just time to draw these curtains, that the girl 
might not be seen to lock the partition door, and to 
take away the key, before her mistress and Miss Temple 
came in. 

These two sat down on a couch placed along the par- 
tition, and Miss Sarah, notwithstanding her alarms, had 
distinctly heard, and perfectly retained the whole con- 
versation. As the little girl was at all this trouble to^ 
make herself clean, only on Lord Rochester's account, 
as soon as ever she could make her escape she regained 
her garret ; where Rochester, having repaired thither at 
the appointed hour, was fully informed of all that had 
passed in the bathing-room. He was astonished at the 
audacious temerity of Hobart in daring to put such a 
trick upon him ; but, though he rightly judged that love 
and jealousy were the real motives, he would not excuse 
her. Little Sarah desired to know whether he had a 
real affection for Miss Temple, as Miss Hobart said she 
supposed that was the case. ' ' Can you doubt it, ' ' replied 
he, ' ' since that oracle of sincerity has affirmed it ? But 
then you know that I am not now capable of profiting 
by my perfidy, were I even to gain Miss Temple's com- 
pliance, since my debauches and the street-walkers have 
brought me to order. ' ' 

This answer made Miss Sarah very easy, for she con- 
cluded that the first article was not true, since she knew 
from experience that the latter was false. Lord Roches- 
ter was resolved that very evening to attend the duchess's 
court, to see what reception he would meet with after 
the fine portrait Miss Hobart had been so kind as to draw 
of him. Miss Temple did not fail to be there likewise,. 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 271 

with the intention of looking on him with the most con- 
temptuous disdain possible, though she had taken care 
to dress herself as well as she could. As she supposed 
that the lampoon Miss Hobart had sung to her was in 
everybody's possession, she was under great embarrass- 
ment lest all those whom she met should think her such 
a monster as Lord Rochester had described her. In the 
meantime, Miss Hobart, who had not much confidence 
in her promises never more to speak to him, narrowly 
watched her. Miss Temple never in her life appeared so 
handsome : every person complimented her upon it ; but 
she received all the civilities with such an air, that every 
one thought she was mad ; for when they commended 
her shape, her fresh complexion, and the brilliancy of 
her eyes : ' ' Pshaw ! ' ' said she, "it is very well known 
that I am but a monster, and formed in no respect like 
other women : all is not gold that glisters : and though 
I may receive some compliments in public, it signifies 
nothing." All Miss Hobart' s endeavors to stop her 
tongue were ineffectual ; and continuing to rail at her- 
self ironically, the whole court was puzzled to compre- 
hend her meaning. 

When Lord Rochester came in, she first blushed, then 
turned pale, made a motion to go towards him, drew 
back again, pulled her gloves one after the other up to 
the elbow ; and after having three times violently flirted 
her fan, she waited until he paid his compliments to her 
as usual, and as soon as he began to bow, the fair one 
immediately turned her back upon him. Rochester only 
smiled, and being resolved that her resentment should 
be still more remarked, he turned round and posting 
himself face to face : " Madam," said he, "nothing can 
be so glorious as to look so charming as you do, after 
such a fatiguing day : to support a ride of three long 
hours, and Miss Hobart afterwards, without being tired, 
shows indeed a very strong constitution." 

Miss Temple had naturally a tender look, but she was 



272 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

transported with such a violent passion at his having 
the audacity to speak to her, that her eyes appeared like 
two fireballs when she turned them upon him. Hobart 
pinched her arm, as she perceived that this look was 
likely to be followed by a torrent of reproaches and in- 
vectives. 

Lord Rochester did not wait for them, and delaying 
until another opportunity the acknowledgments he owed 
Miss Hobart, he quietly retired. The latter, who could 
not imagine that he knew anything of their conversation 
at the bath, was, however, much alarmed at what he had 
said ; but Miss Temple, almost choked with the re- 
proaches with which she thought herself able to confound 
him and which she had not time to give vent to, vowed 
to ease her mind of them upon the first opportunity, not- 
withstanding the promise she had made ; but never more 
to speak to him afterwards. 

Lord Rochester had a faithful spy near these nymphs : 
this was Miss Sarah, who, by his advice, and with her 
aunt's consent, was reconciled with Miss Hobart, the 
more effectually to betray her : he was informed by this 
spy, that Miss Hobart's maid, being suspected of having 
listened to them in the closet, had been turned away ; 
that she had taken another, whom in all probability she 
would not keep long, because, in the first place, she was 
ugly, and, in the second, she eat the sweetmeats that 
were prepared for Miss Temple. Although this intelli- 
gence was not very material, Sarah was nevertheless 
praised for her punctuality and attention ; and a few 
days afterwards she brought him news of real impor- 
tance. 

Rochester was by her informed, that Miss Hobart and 
her new favorite designed, about nine o'clock in the 
evening to walk in the Mall, in the Park ; that they were 
to change clothes with each other, to put on scarfs, and 
wear black masks ; she added, that Miss Hobart had 
strongly opposed this project, but that she was obliged 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 273 

to give way at last, Miss Temple having resolved to in- 
dulge her fancy. 

Upon the strength of this intelligence, Rochester con- 
certed his measures : he went to Killegrew, complained 
to him of the trick which Miss Hobart had played him, 
and desired his assistance in order to be revenged : this 
was readily granted, and having acquainted him with 
the measures he intended to pursue, and given him the 
part he was to act in this adventure, they went to the 
Mall. 

Presently after appeared our two nymphs in masquer- 
ade : their shapes were not very different, and their 
faces, which were very unlike each other, were con- 
cealed with their masks. The company was but thin in 
the Park ; and as soon as Miss Temple perceived them 
at a distance, she quickened her pace in order to join 
them, with the design, under her disguise, severely to 
reprimand the perfidious Rochester ; when Miss Hobart 
stopping her : " Where are you running to?" said she ; 
" have you a mind to engage in conversation with these 
two devils, to be exposed to all the insolence and imper- 
tinence for which they are so notorious?" These re- 
monstrances were entirely useless : Miss Temple was re- 
solved to try the experiment : and all that could be ob- 
tained from her was, not to answer any of the questions 
Rochester might ask her. 

They were accosted just as they had done speaking : 
Rochester fixed upon Hobart, pretending to take her for 
the other ; at which she was overjoyed ; but Miss Tem- 
ple was extremely sorry she fell to Killegrew' s share, 
with whom she had nothing to do : he perceived her 
uneasiness, and, pretending to know her by her clothes : 
"Ah ! Miss Hobart," said he, "be so kind as look this 
way if you please : I know not by what chance you both 
came hither, but I am sure it is very apropos for you, 
since I have something to say to you, as your friend and 
humble servant. ' ' 
18 



274 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

This beginning raising her curiosity, Miss Temple ap- 
peared more inclined to attend him; and Killegrew, 
perceiving that the other couple had insensibly proceeded 
some distance from them : "In the name of God," said 
he, "what do you mean by railing so against Lord 
Rochester, whom you know to be one of the most honor- 
able men at court, and whom you nevertheless described 
as the greatest villain to the person whom of all others 
he esteems and respects the most ? What do you think 
would become of you, if he knew that you made Miss 
Temple believe that she is the person alluded to in a cer- 
tain song, which you know as well as myself was made 
upon the clumsy Miss Price, above a year before the fair 
Temple was heard of? Be not surprised that I know so 
much of the matter, but pay a little attention, I pray you, 
to what I am now going to tell you out of pure friend- 
ship : your passion and inclinations for Miss Temple are 
known to every one but herself ; for whatever methods 
you used to impose upon her innocence, the world does her 
the justice to believe that she would treat you as Lady 
Falmouth did, if the poor girl knew the wicked designs 
you had upon her: I caution you, therefore, against 
making any further advances to a person too modest to 
listen to them : I advise you likewise to take back your 
maid again, in order to silence her scandalous tongue ; 
for she says everywhere that she is with child, that you 
are the occasion of her being in that condition, and ac- 
cuses you of behaving towards her with the blackest 
ingratitude, upon trifling suspicions only: you know 
very well, these are no stories of my own invention ; but 
that you may not entertain any manner of doubt, that I 
had all this from her own mouth ; she has told me your 
conversation in the bathing-room ; the characters you 
there drew of the principal men at court ; your artful 
malice in applying so improperly a scandalous song to 
one of the loveliest women in all England ; and in what 
manner the innocent srirl fell into the snare vou had laid 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 275 

for her, in order to do justice to her charms. But that 
which might be of the most fatal consequences to you in 
that long conversation, is the revealing certain secrets, 
which, in all probability, the duchess did not entrust 
you with, to be imparted to the maids of honor : reflect 
upon this, and neglect not to make some reparation to 

Sir Lyttelton, for the ridicule with which you were 

pleased to load him. I know not whether he had his 
information from your femme-de-chambre, but I am very 
certain that he has sworn he will be revenged, and he is 
a man that keeps his word ; for after all, that you may 
not be deceived by his look, like that of a Stoic, and his 
gravity, like that of a judge, I must acquaint you, that 
he is the most passionate man living. Indeed, these in- 
vectives are of the blackest and most horrible nature: he 
says it is most infamous, that a wretch like yourself 
should find no other employment than to blacken the 
characters of gentlemen to gratify your jealousy; that if 
you do not desist from such conduct for the future, he 
will immediately complain of you; and that if her Royal 
Highness will not do him justice, he is determined to do 
himself justice, and to run you through the body with 
his own sword, though you were even in the arms of 
Miss Temple, and that it is most scandalous that all the 
maids of honor should get into your hands before they 
can look around them. 

"These things, madam, I thought it my duty to ac- 
quaint you with : you are better able to judge than my- 
self, whether what I have now advanced be true, and I 
leave it to your own discretion to make what use you 
think proper of my advice; but were I in your situa- 
tion, I would endeavor to reconcile Lord Rochester and 
Miss Temple. Once more I recommend to you to take 
care that your endeavors to mislead her innocency, in 
order to blast his honor, may not come to his knowledge; 
and do not estrange from her a man who tenderly loves 
her, and whose probity is so great, that he would not 



276 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

even suffer his eyes to wander towards her, if his inten- 
tion was not to make her his wife." 

Miss Temple observed her promise most faithfully dur- 
ing this discourse: she did not even utter a single syllable, 
being seized with such astonishment and confusion, that 
she quite lost the use of her tongue. 

Miss Hobart and Lord Rochester came up to her, 
while she was still in amazement at the wonderful dis- 
coveries she had made; things in themselves, in her 
opinion, almost incredible, but to the truth of which she 
could not refuse her assent, upon examining the evi- 
dences and circumstances on which they were founded. 
Never was confusion equal to that with which her whole 
frame was seized by the foregoing recital. 

Rochester and Killegrew took leave of them before 
she recovered from her surprise; but as soon as she had 
regained the free use of her senses, she hastened back to 
St. James, without answering a single question that the 
other put to her ; and having locked herself up in her 
chamber, the first thing she did, was immediately to strip 
off Miss Hobart' s clothes, lest she should be contaminated 
by them ; for after what she had been told concerning 
her, she looked upon her as a monster, dreadful to the 
innocence of the fair sex, of whatever sex she might be ; 
she blushed at the familiarities she had been drawn into 
with a creature, whose maid was with child, though she 
never had been in any other service but hers : she there- 
fore returned her all her clothes, ordered her servant to 
bring back all her own, and resolved never more to have 
any connection with her. Miss Hobart, on the other 
hand, who supposed Killegrew had mistaken Miss Tem- 
ple for herself, could not comprehend what could induce 
her to give herself such surprising airs, since that conver- 
sation; but being desirous to come to an explanation, she 
ordered Miss Temple's maid to remain in her apartments, 
and went to call upon Miss Temple herself, instead of 
sending back her clothes; and being desirous to give her 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 277 

some proof of friendship before they entered upon expos- 
tulations, she slipped softly into her chamber, when she 
was in the very act of changing her linen, and embraced 
her. Miss Temple finding herself in her arms before she 
had taken notice of her, everything that Killegrew had 
mentioned, appeared to her imagination: she fancied 
that she saw in her looks the eagerness of a satyr, or, if 
possible, of some monster still more odious; and disengag- 
ing herself with the highest indignation from her arms, 
she began to shriek and cry in the most terrible manner, 
calling both heaven and earth to her assistance. 

The first whom her cries raised were the governess 
and her niece. It was near twelve o'clock at night : 
Miss Temple in her shift, almost frightened to death, 
was pushing back with horror Miss Hobart, who ap- 
proached her with no other intent than to know the 
occasion of these transports. As soon as the governess 
saw this scene, she began to lecture Miss Hobart with 
all the eloquence of a real duenna: she demanded of her, 
whether she thought it was for her that her Royal High- 
ness kept the maids of honor? whether she was not 
ashamed to come at such an unseasonable time of night 
into their very apartments to commit such violences? 
and swore that she would, the very next day, complain 
to the duchess. All this confirmed Miss Temple in her 
mistaken notions: and Hobart was obliged to go away at 
last, without being able to convince or bring to reason 
creatures, whom she believed to be either distracted or 
mad. The next day Miss Sarah did not fail to relate 
this adventure to her lover, telling him how Miss Tem- 
ple's cries had alarmed the maids of honor's apartment, 
and how herself and her aunt, tunning to her assistance, 
had almost surprised Miss Hobart in the very act. 

Two days after, the whole adventure, with the addition 
of several embellishments, was made public : the gover- 
ness swore to the truth of it, and related in every com- 
pany what a narrow escape Miss Temple had experi- 



278 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

enced, and that Miss Sarah, her niece, had preserved 
her honor, because, by Lord Rochester's excellent 
advice, she had forbidden her all manner of connection 
with so dangerous a person. Miss Temple was after- 
wards informed, that the song that had so greatly pro- 
voked her alluded to Miss Price only : this was con- 
firmed to her by every person, with additional execrations 
against Miss Hobart, for such a scandalous imposition. 
Such great coldness after so much familiarity, made 
many believe, that this adventure was not altogether a 
fiction. 

This had been sufficient to have disgraced Miss Hobait 
at court, and to have totally ruined her reputation in 
London, had she not been, upon the present, as well as 
upon a former occasion, supported by the duchess : her 
Royal Highness pretended to treat the whole story as 
romantic and visionary, or as solely arising from private 
pique : she chid Miss Temple, for her impertinent 
credulity : turned away the governess and her niece, for 
the lies with which she pretended they supported the 
imposture ; and did many improper things in order to 
re-establish Miss Hobart' s honor, which, however, she 
failed in accomplishing. She had her reasons for not 
entirely abandoning her, as will appear in the sequel. 

Miss Temple, who continually reproached herself 
with injustice, with respect to Lord Rochester, and who, 
upon the faith of Killegrew's word, thought him the 
most honorable man in England, was only solicitous to 
find out some opportunity of easing her mind, by making 
him some reparation for the rigor with which she had 
treated him : these favorable dispositions, in the hands 
of a man of his character, might have led to conse- 
quences of which she was not aware ; but heaven did not 
allow him an opportunity of profiting by them. 

Ever since he had first appeared at court he seldom 
failed being banished from it, at least once in the year ; 
for whenever a word presented itself to his pen, or to 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 279 

Ms tongue, he immediately committed it to paper, or 
produced it in conversation, without any manner of re- 
gard to the consequences ; the ministers, the mistresses, 
and even the king himself, were frequently the subjects 
of his sarcasms ; and had not the prince, whom he thus 
treated, been possessed of one of the most forgiving and 
gentle tempers, his first disgrace had certainly been his 
last. 

Just at the time that Miss Temple was desirous of 
seeing him, in order to apologize for the uneasiness 
which the infamous calumnies and black aspersions of 
-Miss Hobart had occasioned both of them, he was forbid 
the court for the third time : he departed without having 
seen Miss Temple, carried the disgraced governess down 
with him to his country seat, and exerted all his en- 
deavors to cultivate in her niece some dispositions which 
•she had for the stage ; but though she did not make the 
same improvement in this line, as she had by his other 
instructions, after he had entertained both the niece and 
the aunt for some months in the country, he got her 
entered in the king's company of comedians the next 
winter ; and the public was obliged to him for the 
prettiest, but at the same time, the worst actress in the 
kingdom. * 

* Though no name is given to this lady, there are circumstance? 
-enough mentioned to fix on the celebrated Mrs. Barry, as the person 
intended by the author. Mrs. Barry was introduced to the stage by 
Lord Rochester, with whom she had an intrigue, the fruit of which was 
a daughter, who lived to the age of thirteen years, and is often men- 
tioned in his collection of love-letters, printed in his works, which were 
written to Mrs. Barry. On her first theatrical attempts, so little hopes 
were entertained of her, that she was, as Cibber declares, discharged from 
the company at the end of the first year, among others that were thought 
to be a useless expense to it. She was well born ; being daughter of 
Robert Barry, Esq., barrister at law ; a gentleman of an ancient family 
and good estate, who hurt his fortune by his attachment to Charles I. ; 
for whom he raised a regiment at his own expense. Tony Aston, in his 
Supplement to Cibber 's Apology, says, she was woman to lady Shelton 
>of Norfolk, who might have belonged to the court. Curl, however, says, 



280 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

About this time Talbot returned from Ireland : he 
soon felt the absence of Miss Hamilton, who was then in 
the country with a relation, whom we shall mention 
hereafter. A remnant of his former tenderness still 
subsisted in his heart, notwithstanding his absence, and 
the promises he had given the Chevalier de Grammont 
at parting : he now therefore endeavored to banish her 
entirely from his thoughts, by fixing his desires upon 
some other object ; but he saw no one in the queen's 
new court whom he thought worthy of his attention : 
Miss Boynton,* however, thought him worthy of hers. 

she was early taken under the patronage of Lady Davenant. Both these 
accounts may be true. The time of her appearance on the stage was 
probably not much earlier than 1671 ; in which year she performed in 
Tom Essence, and was, it may be conjectured, about the age of nineteen.. 
Curl mentions the great pains taken by Lord Rochester in instructing, 
her ; which were repaid by the rapid progress she daily made in her 
profession. She at last eclipsed all her competitors, and in the part of 
Monimia established her reputation. From her performance in this 
character, in that of Belvidera, and of Isabella, in the Fatal Marriage, 
Downes says she acquired the name of the famous Mrs. Barry, both at 
court and in the city. "Mrs. Barry," says Dryden, in his Preface to 
Cleomenes, ' ' always excellent, has in this tragedy excelled herself, and 
gained a reputation beyond any woman I have ever seen on the 
theatre." " In characters of greatness," says Cibber, "Mrs. Barry had 
a presence of elevated dignity ; her mien and motion superb, and grace- 
fully majestic ; her voice full, clear, and strong ; so that no violence of 
passion could be too much for her ; and when distress or tenderness 
possessed her, she subsided into the most affecting melody and softness. 
In the art of exciting pity, she had a power beyond all the actresses I 
have yet seen, or what your imagination can conceive. In scenes of 
anger, defiance, or resentment, while she was impetuous and terrible,, 
she poured out the sentiment with an enchanting harmony ; and it was 
this particular excellence for which Dryden made her the above-recited' 
compliment, upon her acting Cassandra in his Cleomenes. She was the 
first person whose merit was distinguished by the indulgence of having 
an annual benefit play, which was granted to her alone in King James's 
time, and which did not become common to others till the division of 
this company, after the death of King William and Queen Mary." — 
Gibber's Apology, 1750, p. 133. She died 7th November, 1713, and 
was buried at Acton. The inscription over her remains says she was 
55 years of age. 
* Daughter of Matthew Boynton, second son of Sir Matthew Boynton 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 281 

Her person was slender and delicate, to which a good 
complexion and large motionless eyes gave at a distance 
an appearance of beanty, that vanished upon nearer in- 
spection : she affected to lisp, to languish, and to have 
two or three fainting-fits a day. The first time that 
Talbot cast his eyes upon her she was seized with one 
of these fits : he was told that she swooned away upon 
his account : he believed it, was eager to afford her as- 
sistance ; and ever after that accident showed her some 
kindness, more with the intention of saving her life, 
than to express any affection he felt for her. This seem- 
ing tenderness was well received, and at first she was 
visibly affected by it. Talbot was one of the tallest men 
in England, and in all appearance one of the most ro- 
bust ; yet she showed sufficiently that she was willing to 
expose the delicacy of her constitution, to whatever 
might happen, in order to become his wife ; which event 
perhaps might then have taken place, as it did after- 
wards,, had not the charms of the fair Jennings at that 
time, proved an obstacle to her wishes. 

I know not how it came to pass that he had not yet 
seen her ; though he had heard her much praised, and 
her prudence, wit, and vivacity equally commended ; he 
believed all this upon the faith of common report. He 
thought it very singular that discretion and sprightliness 
should be so intimately united in a person so young, 
more particularly in the midst of a court where love and 
gallantry were so much in fashion; but he found her 
personal accomplishments greatly to exceed whatever 
fame had reported of them. 

As it was not long before he perceived he was in love, 
neither was it long before he made a declaration of it : 
as his passion was likely enough to be real, Miss Jennings 
thought she might believe him, without exposing her- 

of Barmston, in Yorkshire. The sister of this lady married the cele- 
brated Earl of Roscommon. 



282 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

self to the imputation of vanity. Talbot was possessed 
of a fine and brilliant exterior, bis manners were noble 
and majestic : besides this, he was particularly distin- 
guished by the favor and friendship of the duke ; but his 
most essential merit, with her, was his forty thousand 
pounds a-year, landed property, besides his employ- 
ments. All these qualities came within the rules and 
maxims she had resolved to follow with respect to lovers: 
thus, though he had not the satisfaction to obtain from 
her an entire declaration of her sentiments, he had at 
least the pleasure of being better received than those 
who had paid their addresses to her before him. 

No person attempted to interrupt his happiness ; and 
Miss Jennings, perceiving that the duchess approved of 
Talbot's pretensions, and after having well weighed the 
matter, and consulted her own inclinations, found that 
her reason was more favorable to him than her heart, 
and that the most she could do for his satisfaction was to 
marry him without reluctance. 

Talbot, too fortunate in a preference which no man 
had before experienced, did not examine whether it was 
to her heart or to her head that he was indebted for it, 
and his thoughts were solely occupied in hastening the 
accomplishment of his wishes : one would have sworn 
that the happy minute was at hand ; but love would no 
longer be love, if he did not delight in obstructing, or 
in overturning the happiness of those who live under 
his dominion. 

Talbot, who found nothing reprehensible either in the 
person, in the conversation, or in the reputation of Miss 
Jennings, was however rather concerned at a new 
acquaintance she had lately formed ; and having taken 
upon him to give her some cautions upon this subject, 
she was much displeased at his conduct. 

Miss Price, formerly maid of honor, that had been 
set aside, as we have before mentioned, upon her leaving 
the duchess's service, had recourse to Lady Castlemaine's 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 283 

protection : she had a very entertaining wit : her com- 
plaisance was adapted to all humors, and her own humor 
was possessed of a fund of gaiety and sprightliness which 
diffused universal mirth and merriment wherever she 
came. Her acquaintance with Miss Jennings was prior 
to Talbot's. 

As she was thoroughly acquainted with all the in- 
trigues of the court, she related them without any man- 
ner of reserve to Miss Jennings, and her own with the 
same frankness as the others : Miss Jennings was ex- 
tremely well pleased with her stories ; for though she 
was determined to make no experiment in love, but upon 
honorable terms, she however was desirous of knowing 
from her recitals all the different intrigues that were 
carrying on : thus, as she was never wearied with her 
conversation, she was overjoyed whenever she could see 
her. 

Talbot, who remarked the extreme relish she had for 
Miss Price's company, thought that the reputation such 
a woman had in the world might prove injurious to his 
mistress, more especially from the particular intimacy 
there seemed to exist between them : whereupon, in the 
tone of a guardian rather than a lover, he took upon him 
to chide her for the disreputable company she kept. 
Miss Jennings was haughty beyond conception, when 
once she took it into her head ; and as she liked Miss 
Price's conversation much better than Talbot's, she took 
the liberty of desiring him ' ' to attend to his own affairs, 
and that if he only came from Ireland to read lectures 
about her conduct, he might take the trouble to go back 
as soon as he pleased." He was offended at a sally which 
he thought ill-timed, considering the situation of affairs 
between them ; and went out of her presence more 
abruptly than became the respect due from a man 
greatly in love. He for some time appeared offended ; 
but perceiving that he gained nothing by such conduct, 
he grew weary of acting that part, and assumed that of 



284 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

an humble lover, in which he was equally unsuccessful; 
neither his repentance nor submissions could produce 
any effect upon her, and the mutinous little gipsy was 
still in her pouts when Jermyn returned to court. 

It was above a year since he had triumphed over the 
weakness of Lady Castlemaine, and above two since the 
king had been weary of his triumphs : his uncle, being 
one of the first who perceived the king's disgust, obliged 
him to absent himself from court, at the very time that 
orders were going to be issued for that purpose ; for 
though the king's affections for Lady Castlemaine were 
now greatly diminished, yet he did not think it consistent 
with his dignity that a mistress, whom he had honored 
with public distinction, and who still received a con- 
siderable support from him, should appear chained to 
the car of the most ridiculous conqueror that ever ex- 
isted. His Majesty had frequently expostulated with the 
countess upon this subject : but his expostulations were 
never attended to ; it was in one of these differences that 
he, advising her rather to bestow her favors upon Jacob 
Hall, the rope-dancer, who was able to return them, than 
lavish away her money upon Jermyn to no purpose, since 
it would be more honorable for her to pass for the mis- 
tress of the first, than for the very humble servant of the 
other, she was not proof against his raillery. The im- 
petuosity of her temper broke forth like lightning : she 
told him ' ' that it very ill became him to throw out such 
reproaches against one who, of all the women in Eng- 
land, deserved them the least ; that he had never ceased 
quarrelling thus unjustly with her, ever since he had be- 
trayed his own mean, low inclinations ; that to gratify 
such a depraved taste as his, he wanted only such silly 
things as Stewart, Wells, and that pi tiful strolling ac- 
tress,* whom he had lately introduced into their so- 
ciety." Floods of tears, from rage, generally attended 

* Probably Nell Gwyn. 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 285 

these storms ; after which, resuming the part of Medea, 
the scene closed with menaces of tearing her children in 
pieces and setting his palace on fire. What course could 
he pursue with such an outrageous fury, who, beautiful 
as she was, resembled Medea less than her dragons, when 
she was thus enraged ! 

The indulgent monarch loved peace ; and as he seldom 
contended for it on these occasions without paying some- 
thing to obtain it, he was obliged to be at great expense, 
in order to reconcile this last rupture : as they could not 
agree of themselves, and both parties equally complained, 
the Chevalier de Grammont was chosen, by mutual con- 
sent, mediator of the treaty. The grievances and pre- 
tensions on each side were communicated to him, and 
what is very extraordinary, he managed so as to please 
them both. Here follow the articles of peace which they 
agreed to : 

"That Lady Castlemaine should forever abandon 
Jermyn ; that as a proof of her sincerity, and the reality 
of his disgrace, she should consent to his being sent, for 
some time, into the country ; that she should not rail 
any more against Miss Wells, nor storm any more against 
Miss Stewart; and this without any restraint on the king's 
behavior towards her: that in consideration of these con- 
descensions, his majesty should immediately give her 
the title of duchess,* with all the honors and privileges 
thereunto belonging, and an addition to her pension, in 
order to enable her to support the dignity." 

As soon as this peace was proclaimed, the political 
critics, who, in all nations, never fail to censure all state 
proceedings, pretended that the mediator of this treaty, 
being every day at play with Lady Castlemaine, and 
never losing, had, for his own sake, insisted a little too 
strongly upon this last article. 

* The title of Duchess of Cleveland was conferred on her 3d August, 
22 Charles II. , 1670. 



286 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

Some days after, she was created Duchess of Cleve- 
land, and little Jermyn repaired to his country-seat : 
however, it was in his power to have returned in a fort- 
night ; for the Chevalier de Grammont, having procured 
the king's permission, carried it to the Earl of St. Al- 
bans : this revived the good old man; but it was to little 
purpose he transmitted it to his nephew ; for whether he 
wished to make the London beauties deplore and lament 
his absence, or whether he wished them to declaim 
against the injustice of the age, or rail against the 
tyranny of the prince, he continued above half a year in 
the country, setting up for a little philosopher, under 
the eyes of the sportsmen in the neighborhood, who re- 
garded him as an extraordinary instance of the caprice 
of fortune. He thought the part he acted so glorious, 
that he would have continued there much longer had he 
not heard of Miss Jennings : he did not, however, pay 
much attention to what his friends wrote to him con- 
cerning her charms, being persuaded he had seen equally 
as great in others : what was related to him of her pride 
and resistance appeared to him bf far greater conse- 
quence ; and to subdue the last, he even looked upon as 
an action worthy of his prowess ; and quitting his re- 
treat for this purpose, he arrived in London at the time 
that Talbot, who was really in love, had quarrelled, in 
his opinion, so unjustly with Miss Jennings. 

She had heard Jermyn spoken of as a hero in affairs of 
love and gallantry. Miss Price, in the recital of those 
of the Duchess of Cleveland, had often mentioned him, 
without in any respect diminishing the insignificancy 
with which fame insinuated he had conducted himself 
in those amorous encounters : she nevertheless had the- 
greatest curiosity to see a man, whose entire person, she 
thought, must be a moving trophy, and monument of 
the favors and freedoms of the fair sex. 

Thus Jermyn arrived at the right time to satisfy her 
curiosity by his presence; and though his brilliancy 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 287 

appeared a little tarnished by his residence in the coun- 
try; though his head was larger and his legs more 
slender than usual, yet the giddy girl thought she had 
never seen any man so perfect; and yielding to her 
destiny, she fell in love with him, a thousand times 
more unaccountably than all the others had done before 
her. Everybody remarked this change of conduct in her 
with surprise ; for they expected something more from 
the delicacy of a person who, till this time, had be- 
haved with so much propriety in all her actions. 

Jermyn was not in the least surprised at this conquest, 
though not a little proud of it ; for his heart had very 
soon as great a share in it as his vanity. Talbot, who 
saw with amazement the rapidity of this triumph, and 
the disgrace of his own defeat, was ready to die with 
jealousy and spite ; yet he thought it would be more to 
his credit to die than to vent those passions unprofitably ; 
and shielding himself under a feigned indifference, he 
kept at a distance to view how far such an extravagant 
prepossession would proceed. 

In the meantime Jermyn quietly enjoyed the happi- 
ness of seeing the inclinations of the prettiest and most 
extraordinary creature in England declared in his fa- 
vor. The duchess, who had taken her under her pro- 
tection ever since she had declined placing herself under 
that of the duke, sounded Jermyn' s intentions towards 
her, and was satisfied with the assurances she received 
from a man, whose probity infinitely exceeded his merit 
in love: he therefore let all the court see that he was 
willing to marry her, though, at the same time, he did 
not appear particularly desirous of hastening the con- 
summation. Every person now complimented Miss 
Jennings upon having reduced to this situation the 
terror of husbands and the plague of lovers : the court 
was in full expectation of this miracle, and Miss Jen- 
nings of a near approaching happy settlement : but in 
this world one must have fortune in one's favor, before 
one can calculate with certainty upon happiness. 



288 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

The king did not use to let L,ord Rochester remain so 
long in exile: he grew weary of it, and being displeased 
that he was forgotten, he posted up to L,ondon to wait 
till it might be His Majesty's pleasure to recall him. 

He first took up his habitation in the city, among the 
capital tradesmen and rich merchants, where politeness 
indeed is not so much cultivated as at court ; but where 
pleasure, luxury, and abundance reign with less confu- 
sion, and more sincerity. His first design was only to 
be initiated into the mysteries of those fortunate and 
happy inhabitants : that is to say, by changing his name 
and dress, to gain admittance to their feasts and enter- 
tainments; and, as occasion offered, to those of their 
loving spouses; as he was able to adapt himself to all 
capacities and humors, he soon deeply insinuated him- 
self into the esteem of the substantial wealthy aldermen, 
and into the affections of their more delicate, magnificent, 
and tender ladies: he made one in all their feasts, and at 
all their assemblies ; and, whilst in the company of the 
husbands, he declaimed against the faults and mistakes 
of government, he joined their wives in railing against 
the profligacy of the court ladies, and in inveighing 
against the king's mistresses : he agreed with them that 
the industrious poor were to pay for these cursed extrav- 
agances; that the city beauties were not inferior to those 
of the other end of the town, and yet a sober husband in 
this quarter of the town was satisfied with one wife ; 
after which, to out-do their murmurings, he said, that 
he wondered Whitehall was not yet consumed by fire 
from heaven, since such rakes as Rochester, Killegrew, 
and Sidney were suffered there, who had the impudence 
to assert that all married men in the city were cuckolds, 
and all their wives painted. This conduct endeared him 
so much to the cits, and made him so welcome at their 
clubs, that at last he grew sick of their cramming and 
endless invitations. 

But, instead of approaching nearer the court, he 




'/.).) ■ /<?. // // / // '/-J 



7' 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 



289 



retreated into one of the most obscure corners of the city; 
where, again changing both his name and dress, in order 
to act a new part, he caused bills to be dispersed, giving 
notice of "The recent arrival of a famous German doc- 
tor,* who, by long application and experience, had 
found out wonderful secrets, and infallible remedies." 
His secrets consisted in knowing what was past, and 
foretelling what was to come, by the assistance of astrol- 
ogy: and the virtue of his remedies principally consisted 
in giving present relief to unfortunate young women 
in all manner of diseases, and all kinds of accidents inci- 
dent to the fair sex, either from too unbounded charity 
to their neighbors, or too great indulgence to them- 
selves. . 

His first practice being confined to his neighborhood, 
was not very considerable ; but his reputation soon 
extending to the other end of the town, there pres- 
ently flocked to him the women attending on the 
court, next, the chambermaids of ladies of quality, 
who, 'upon the wonders they related concerning the 
German doctor, were soon followed by some of their 

mistresses. 

Among all the compositions of a ludicrous and satir- 
ical kind, there never existed any that could be compared 
to those of Lord Rochester, either for humor, fire, or 
wit; but, of all his works, the most ingenious and enter- 



* Bishop Burnet confirms this account.-" Being under an unlucky 
accident, which obliged him to keep out of the way, he disguised him- 
self so, that his nearest friends could not have known him, and set up 
in Tower Street for an Italian mountebank, where he practised physic 
for some weeks, not without success. In his latter years he read books 
of history more. He took pleasure to disguise himself as a porter, or 
as a beggar, sometimes to follow some mean amours, which, for the 
variety of them, he affected. At other times, merely for diversion, he 
would go about in odd shapes ; in which he acted his part so naturally, 
that even those who were in the secret, and saw him m these shapes, 
could perceive nothing by which he might be discovered. "—Burnet s 
Life of Rochester, ed. 1774, p. 14. 
19 



290 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

taining is that which contains a detail of the intrigues 
and adventures in which he was engaged while he pro- 
fessed medicine and astrology in the suburbs of London. 

The fair Jennings was very near getting a place 
in this collection; but the adventure that prevented 
her from it, did not, however, conceal from the public 
her intention of paying a visit to the German doctor. 

The first chambermaids that consulted him were only 
those of the maids of honor; who had numberless ques- 
tions to ask, and not a few doubts to be resolved, both 
on their own and their mistresses' accounts. Notwith- 
standing their disguise, he recognized some of them, 
particularly Miss Temple's and Miss Price's maids, and 
her whom Miss Hobart had lately discarded: these 
creatures all returned either filled with wonder and 
amazement, or petrified with terror and fear. Miss 
Temple's chambermaid deposed that he assured her she 
would have the small-pox, and her mistress the great, 
within two months at the farthest, if her aforesaid mis- 
tress did not guard against a man in woman's clothes. 
Miss Price's woman affirmed that, without knowing her, 
and only looking in her hand, he told her at first sight, 
that, according to the course of the stars, he perceived 
that she was in the service of some good-natured lady, 
who had no other fault than that of loving wine and 
men. In short, every one of them, struck with some 
particular circumstance relating to their own private 
affairs, had either alarmed or diverted their mistresses 
with the account, not failing, according to custom, to 
embellish the truth, in order to enhance the wonder. 

Miss Price, relating these circumstances one day to 
her new friend, the devil immediately tempted her to go 
in person, and see what sort of a creature this new magi- 
cian was. This enterprise was certainly very rash ; but 
nothing was too rash for Miss Jennings, who was of 
opinion that a woman might despise appearances, pro- 
vided she was in reality virtuous. Miss Price was all 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 291 

compliance, and thus having fixed upon this glorious 
resolution, they only thought of the proper means of 
putting it into execution. 

It was very difficult for Miss Jennings to disguise her- 
self, on account of her excessive fair and bright com- 
plexion, and of something particular in her air and 
manner : however, after having well considered the 
matter, the best disguise they could think of was to 
dress themselves like orange girls. * This was no sooner 
resolved upon, but it was put in execution : they attired 
themselves alike, and, taking each a basket of oranges 
under their arms, they embarked in a hackney coach, 
and committed themselves to fortune, without any other 
escort than their own caprice and indiscretion. 

The duchess was gone to the play with her sister : 
Miss Jennings had excused herself under pretence of in- 
disposition : she was overjoyed at the happy commence- 



* These frolics appear to have been not unfrequent with persons of 
high rank at this period. In a letter from Mr. Henshaw to Sir 
Robert Paston, afterwards Earl of Yarmouth, dated October 13, 1670, 
we have the following account : "Last week, there being a faire neare 
Audley-end, the queen, the Dutchess of Richmond, and the Dutchess of 
Buckingham, had a frolick to disguise themselves like country lasses, 
in red petticotes, wastcotes, &c, and so goe see the faire. Sir Barnard 
Gascoign, on a cart jade, rode before the queen ; another stranger before 
the Dutchess of Buckingham ; and Mr. Roper before Richmond. They 
had all so overdone it in their disguise, and looked so much more like 
antiques than country volk, that, as soon as they came to the faire, the 
people began to goe after them ; but the queen going to a booth, to buy 
a pair of yellow stockings for her sweet hart, and Sir Bernard asking 
for a pair of gloves sticht with blew, for his sweet hart, they were soon, 
by their gebrish, found to be strangers, which drew a bigger flock about 
them. One amongst them had seen the queen at dinner, knew her, and 
was proud of her knowledge. This soon brought all the faire into a 
crowd to stare at the queen. Being thus discovered, they, as soon as 
they could, got to their horses ; but as many of the faire as had horses 
got up, with their wives, children, sweet harts, or neighbors, behind 
them, to get as much gape as they could, till they brought them to the 
court gate. Thus, by ill conduct, was a merry frolick turned into a 
-penance." — Ive , s Select Papers, p. 39. 



292 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

ment of their adventure ; for they had disguised them- 
selves, had crossed the Park, and taken their hackney 
coach at Whitehall gate, without the least accident. 
They mutually congratulated each other upon it, and 
Miss Price, taking a beginning so prosperous as a good 
omen of their success, asked her companion what they 
were to do at the fortune-teller's, and what they should 
propose to him. 

Miss Jennings told her that, for her part, curiosity was . 
her principal inducement for going thither ; that, how- 
ever, she was resolved to ask him, without naming any 
person, why a man, who was in love with a handsome 
young lady, was not urgent to marry her, since this was • 
in his power to do, and by so doing he would have an 
opportunity of gratifying his desires. Miss Price told 
her, smiling, that, without going to the astrologer, noth- 
ing was more easy than to explain the enigma, as she 
herself had almost given her a solution of it in the narra- 
tive of the Duchess of Cleveland's adventures. 

Having by this time nearly arrived at the playhouse, 
Miss Price, after a moment's reflection, said, that since - 
fortune favored them, a fair opportunity was now offered 
to signalize their courage, which was to go and sell 
oranges in the very playhouse, in the sight of the duchess 
and the whole court. The proposal being worthy of the 
sentiments of the one, and of the vivacity of the other, 
they immediately alighted, paid off their hack, and, 
running through the midst of an immense number of 
coaches, with great difficulty they reached the playhouse 
door. Sidney, more handsome than the beautiful 
Adonis, and dressed more gay than usual, alighted just 
then from his coach : Miss Price went boldly up to him, 
as he was adjusting his curls ; but he was too much 
occupied with his own dear self to attend to anything 
else, and so passed on without deigning to give her an 
answer. Killegrew came next, and the fair Jennings, 
partly encouraged by the other's pertness, advanced 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 



293 



towards him, and offered him her basket, whilst Price, 
more used to the language, desired him to buy her fine 
oranges. " Not now," said he, looking at them with 
attention ; "but if thou wilt to-morrow morning bring 
this young girl to my lodgings, I will make it worth all 
the oranges in London to thee : ' ' and while he thus 
spoke to the one he chucked the other under the chin, 
. examining her bosom. These familiarities making little 




MISS PRICE. 



Jennings forget the part she was acting, after having 
pushed him away with all the violence she was able, she 
told him with indignation that it was very insolent to 
dare— "Ha! ha!" said he, "here's a rarity indeed! 
a young w — , who, the better to sell her goods, sets up 
for virtue, and pretends innocence ! ' ' 

Price immediately perceived that nothing could be 
gained by continuing any longer in so dangerous a place; 
-and, taking her companion under the arm, she dragged 



294 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

her away, while she was still in emotion at the insult 
that had been offered to her. 

Miss Jennings, resolving to sell no more oranges on 
these terms, was tempted to return, without accomplish- 
ing the other adventure ; but Price having represented 
to her the disgrace of such cowardly behavior, more 
particularly after having before manifested so much 
resolution, she consented to go and pay the astrologer a 
short visit, so as they might be enabled to regain the 
palace before the play was ended. 

They had one of the doctor's bills for a direction, but 
there was no occasion for it ; for the driver of the coach 
they had taken told them he knew very well the place 
they wanted, for he had already carried above an hun- 
dred persons to the German doctor's : they were within 
half a street of his house, when fortune thought proper 
to play them a trick. 

Brounker * had dined by chance with a merchant in. 
that part of the city, and just as he was going away they 
ordered their coach to stop, as ill-luck would have it, 
just opposite to him. Two orange girls in a hackney 
coach, one of whom appeared to have a very pretty face, 
immediately drew his attention; besides, he had a natural 
curiosity for such objects. 

Of all the men at court, he had the least regard for the 



* Gentleman of the chamber to the Duke of York, and brother to- 
Lord Viscount Brounker, president of the royal society. Lord Claren- 
don imputes to him the cause of the great sea-fight, in 1665, not being 
so well improved as it might have been, and adds, " nor did the duke 
come to hear of it till some years after, when Mr. Brounker's ill course 
of life, and his abominable nature, had rendered him so odious that it 
was taken notice of in parliament, and, upon examination, found to be 
true, as is here related ; upon which he was expelled the house of com- 
mons, whereof he was a member, as an infamous person, though his 
friend Coventry adhered to him, and used many indirect acts to have 
protected him, and afterwards procured him to have more countenance 
from the king than most men thought he deserved." — Continuatio7i of 
Clarendon 's Life, p. 270. 




GEBBIE &( 



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?sCO iJd/1-C/' / ' /■ > 



'/rcce//'J/r?sX' ■,sc>/)w i' / i ■ 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 295 

fair sex, and the least attention to their reputation : he 
was not young, nor was his person agreeable ; however, 
with a great deal of wit, he had a violent passion for 
women. He did himself justice respecting his own 
merit ; and, being persuaded that he could only succeed 
with those who were desirous of having his money, he 
was at open war with all the rest. He had a little 
country-house four or five miles from London always 
well stocked with girls : * in other respects he was a very 
honest .man, and the best chess-player in England. 

Price, alarmed at being thus closely examined by the 
most dangerous enemy they could encounter, turned her 
head the other way, bid her companion do the same, and 
told the coachman to drive on. Brounker followed them 
unperceived on foot ; and the coach having stopped 
twenty or thirty yards farther up the street, they 
alighted. He was just behind them, and formed the 
same judgment of them which a man much more charit- 
able to the sex must unavoidably have done, concluding 
that Miss Jennings was a young courtesan upon the look- 
out, and that Miss Price was the mother-abbess. He 
was, however, surprised to see them have much better 
shoes and stockings than women of that rank generally 
wear, and that the little orange girl, in getting out of a 
very high coach, showed one of the handsomest legs he 
had ever seen : but as all this was no obstruction to his 
designs, he resolved to purchase her at any rate, in order 
to place her in his seraglio. 

He came up to them as they were giving their baskets 
in guard to the coachman, with orders to wait for them 
exactly in that place. Brounker immediately pushed in 
between them : as soon as they saw him, they gave them- 
selves up for lost; but he, without taking the least notice 



* Brounker, Love's squire, through all the field array'd, 
No troop was better clad, nor so well paid. 

— Andrew MarvelVs Poems, vol. ii., p. 94. 



296 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

of their surprise, took Price aside with one hand, and 
his purse with the other, and began immediately to enter 
upon business, but was astonished to perceive that she 
turned away her face, without either answering or look- 
ing at him : As this conduct appeared to him unnatural, 
he stared her full in the face, notwithstanding all her 
endeavors to prevent him : he did the same to the other: 
and immediately recognised them, but determined to 
conceal his discovery. 

The old fox possessed a wonderful command of temper 
on such occasions, and having teazed them a little longer 
to remove all suspicions he quitted them, telling Price : 
" That she was a great fool to refuse his offers, and that 
her girl would not, perhaps, get so much in a year as 
she might with him in one day ; that the times were 
greatly changed since the queen's and the duchess's 
maids of honor forestalled the market, and were to be 
had cheaper than the town ladies. ' ' Upon this he went 
back to his coach, whilst they blessed themselves, re- 
turning heaven their most hearty thanks for having 
escaped this danger without being discovered. 

Brounker, on the other hand, would not have taken a 
thousand guineas for this rencounter : he blessed the 
Lord that he had not alarmed them to such a degree as 
to frustrate their intention ; for he made no doubt but 
Miss Price had managed some intrigue for Miss Jennings: 
he therefore immediately concluded, that at present it 
would be improper to make known his discovery, which 
would have answered no other end but to have over- 
whelmed them with confusion. 

Upon this account, although Jermyn was one of his 
best friends, he felt a secret joy in not having prevented 
his being made a cuckold, before his marriage ; and the 
apprehension he was in of preserving him from that acci- 
dent was his sole reason for quitting them with the pre- 
cautions aforementioned. 

Whilst they were under these alarms, their coachman 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 297 

was engaged in a squabble with some blackguard boys 
who had gathered round his coach in order to steal the 
-oranges: from words they came to blows: the two nymphs 
saw the commencement of the fray as they were return- 
ing to the coach, after having abandoned the design of 
going to the fortune-teller's. Their coachman being a 
man of spirit, it was with great difficulty they could per- 
suade him to leave their oranges to the mob, that they 
might get off without any further disturbance : having 
thus regained their hack, after a thousand frights, and 
after having received an abundant share of the most low 
and infamous abuse applied to them during the fracas, 
they at length reached St. James's, vowing never more 
to go after fortune-tellers, through so many dangers, 
terrors and alarms, as they had lately undergone. 

Brounker, who, from the indifferent opinion he enter- 
tained of the fair sex, would have staked his life that 
Miss Jennings did not return from this expedition in the 
same condition she went, kept his thoughts, however, a 
profound secret ; since it would have afforded him the 
highest satisfaction to have seen the all-fortunate Jermyn 
marry a little street-walker, who pretended to pass for a 
pattern of chastity, that he might, the day after his mar- 
riage, congratulate him upon his virtuous spouse ; but 
heaven was not disposed to afford him that satisfaction, 
as will appear in the sequel of these memoirs. 

Miss Hamilton was in the country, as we before men- 
tioned, at a relation's : the Chevalier de Grammont bore 
this short absence of hers with great uneasiness, since 
she would not allow him permission to visit her there, 
upon any pretence whatever ; but play, which was 
favorable to him, was no small relief to his extreme 
impatience. 

Miss Hamilton, however, at last returned. Mrs. We- 
tenhall * (for that was the name of her relation) would 

* Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Henry Bedingfield, and wife of Thomas 
Wetenhall, of Hextall Court, near East Peckham, in the county of 



298 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

by all means wait upon her to London, in appearance 
out of politeness; for ceremony, carried beyond all bear- 
ing, is the grand characteristic of country gentry : yet 
this mark of civility was only a pretence to obtain a 
peevish husband's consent to his wife's journey to town. 
Perhaps he would have done himself the honor of con- 
ducting Miss Hamilton up to London had he not been 
employed in writing some remarks upon the ecclesias- 
tical history, a work in which he had long been engaged: 
the ladies were more civil than to interrupt him in his 
undertaking, and besides, it would entirely have discon- 
certed all Mrs. Wetenhall's schemes. 

This lady was what may be properly called a beauty; 
entirely English, made up of lilies and roses, of snow 
and milk, as to color ; and of wax, with respect to the 
arms, hands, neck, and feet, but all this without either 
animation or air; her face was uncommonly pretty; but 
there was no variety, no change of countenance in it : 
one would have thought she took it in the morning out 
of a case, in order to put it up again at night, without 
using it in the smallest degree in the daytime. What 
can I say of her ! nature had formed her a baby from her 
infancy, and a baby remained till death the fair Mrs. 
Wetenhall. Her husband had been destined for the 
church; but his elder brother dying just at the time he 
had gone through his studies of divinity, instead of tak- 
ing orders, he came to England, and took to wife Miss 
Bedingfield, the lady of whom we are now speaking. 

His person was not disagreeable, but he had a serious 
contemplative air, very apt to occasion disgust : as for 



Kent : See Collins 1 s Baronetage, p. 216. The family of Whetenhall, 
or Whetnall, was possessed of the estate of Hextall Court from the 
time of Henry VIII. until within a few years past, when one of them, 
Henry Whetenhall, Esq., alienated it to John Fane, Earl of Westmore- 
land. Of this family was Edward Whetenhall, a celebrated polemical 
writer, who, in 1678, was consecrated bishop of Corke and Ross. — See 
Wood's Athencz Oxoniensis, vol. ii., p. 851, 998. 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 299 

the rest, she might boast of having one of the greatest 
theologists in the kingdom for her husband : he was all 
day poring over his books, and went to bed soon, in 
order to rise early ; so that his wife found him snoring 
when she came to bed, and when he arose he left her 
there sound asleep; his conversation at table would have 
been very brisk, if Mrs. Wetenhall had been as great a 
proficient in divinity, or as great a lover of controversy, 
as he was ; but being neither learned in the former, nor 
desirous of the latter, silence reigned at their table, as 
absolutely as at a refectory. 

She had often expressed a great desire to see London ; 
but though they were only distant a very short day's 
journey from it, she had never been able to satisfy her 
curiosity ; it was not therefore without reason that she 
grew weary of the life she was forced to lead at Peck- 
ham. * The melancholy, retired situation of the place 
was to her insupportable; and as she had the folly, inci- 
dent to many other women, of believing sterility to be a 
kind of reproach, she was very much hurt to see that she 
might fall under that suspicion ; for she was persuaded, 
that although heaven had denied her children, she never- 
theless had all the necessary requisites on her part, if it 
had been the will of the Lord. This had occasioned her 
to make some reflections, and then to reason upon those 
reflections; as for instance, that since her husband chose 
rather to devote himself to his studies, than to the 
duties of matrimony, to turn over musty old books, 
rather than attend to the attractions of beauty, and to 
gratify his own pleasures rather than those of his wife, 
it might be permitted her to relieve some necessitous 
lover, in neighborly charity, provided she could do it 

* " Peckham is about ten miles off Tunbridge Wells. Sir William 
Twisden has an ancient mansion here, which has been long in that 
family." — Burr's History of Tunbridge Wells, 8vo., 1766, p. 237. Mr. 
Hasted says, the estate was purchased by Sir William Twisden of Henry 
Whetenhall, Esq. — Hasted 's Kent, vol. ii., p. 274. 



300 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

•conscientiously, and to direct her inclinations in so just 
a manner, that the evil spirit should have no concern in 
it. Mr. Wetenhall, a zealous partisan for the doctrine of 
the casuists, would not perhaps have approved of these 
decisions; but he was not consulted. 

The greatest misfortune was, that neither solitary 
Peckham, nor its sterile neighborhood, presented any 
expedients, either for the execution of the aforementioned 
design, or for the relief of poor Mrs. Wetenhall : she was 
visibly pining away, when, through fear of dying either 
with solitude or of want, she had recourse to Miss Ham- 
ilton's commiseration. 

Their first acquaintance was formed at Paris, whither 
Mr. Wetenhall had taken his wife half a year after they 
were married, on a journey thither to buy books : Miss 
Hamilton, who from that very time greatly pitied her, 
consented to pass some time in the country with her, in 
hopes by that visit, to deliver her, for a short time at 
least, out of her captivity ; which project succeeded 
according to her wish. 

The Chevalier de Grammont, being informed of the 
day on which they were to arrive, borne on the wings 
of love and impatience, had engaged George Hamilton 
to go with him, and meet them some miles out of Lon- 
don. The equipage he had prepared for the purpose, 
corresponded with his usual magnificence ; and on such 
an occasion, we may reasonably suppose he had not neg- 
lected his person : however, with all his impatience, he 
checked the ardor of the coachman, through fear of acci- 
dents, rightly judging that upon a road prudence is 
preferable to eagerness. The ladies at length appeared, 
and Miss Hamilton, being in his eyes, ten or twelve 
times more handsome than before her departure from 
London, he would have purchased with his life so kind 
a reception as she gave her brother. 

Mrs. Wetenhall had her share of the praises, which at 
this interview were liberally bestowed upon her beauty, 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 301 

for which her beauty was very thankful to those who did 
it so much honor; and as Hamilton regarded her with a 
tender attention, she regarded Hamilton as a man very 
well qualified for putting in execution the little projects 
she had concerted with her conscience. 

As soon as she was in I,ondon, her head was almost 
turned, through an excess of contentment and felicity : 
everything appeared like enchantment to her in this su- 
perb city ; more particularly, as in Paris she had never 
seen anything farther than the Rue Saint Jacques, and 
a few booksellers' shops. Miss Hamilton entertained 
her at her own house, and she was presented, admired, 
and well received at both courts. 

The Chevalier de Grammont, whose gallantry and 
magnificence were inexhaustible, taking occasion, from 
this fair stranger's arrival, to exhibit his grandeur, 
nothing was to be seen but balls, concerts, plays, excur- 
sions by land and by water, splendid collations and 
sumptuous entertainments : Mrs. Wetenhall was trans- 
ported with pleasures, of which the greatest part were 
entirely new to her; she was greatly delighted with 
all, except now and then at a play, when tragedy was 
acted, which she confessed she thought rather wearisome: 
she agreed, however, that the show was very interesting, 
when there were many people killed upon the stage, 
but thought the players were very fine handsome fellows, 
who were much better alive than dead. 

Hamilton, upon the whole, was pretty well treated by 
her, if a man in love, who is never satisfied until the 
completion of his wishes, could confine himself within 
the bounds of moderation and reason : he used all his 
endeavors to determine her to put in execution the proj- 
ects she had formed at Peckham: Mrs. Wetenhall, on the 
other hand, was much pleased with him. This is the 
Hamilton who served in the French army with distinc- 
tion; * he was both agreeable and handsome. All imag- 

* I apprehend he is the same George Hamilton already described,. 



302 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

inable opportunities conspired to favor the establishment 
of an intimacy, whose commencement had been so brisk, 
that in all probability it would not languish for a con- 
clusion; but the more he pressed her to it, the more^her 
resolution began to fail, and regard for some scruples, 
which she had not well weighed, kept her in suspense : 
there was reason to believe that a little perseverance 
would have removed these obstacles; yet this at the pres- 
ent time was not attempted. Hamilton, not able to con- 
ceive what could prevent her from completing his 
happiness, since in his opinion the first and greatest 
difficulties of an amour were already overcome, with 
respect to the public, resolved to abandon her to her 
irresolutions, instead of endeavoring to conquer them by 
a. more vigorous attack. It was not consistent with 
reason, to desist from an enterprise, where so many pros- 
pects of success presented themselves, for such inconsid- 
erable obstacles; but he suffered himself to be intoxicated 
with chimeras and visions, which unseasonably cooled 
the vigor of his pursuit, and led him astray in another 
unprofitable undertaking. 

I know not whether poor Wetenhall took the blame 
upon herself ; but it is certain, she was extremely morti- 
fied upon it. Soon after being obliged to return to her 
cabbages and turkeys at Peckham, she had almost gone 
distracted : that residence appeared a thousand times 
more dreadful to her, since she had been initiated into 
the amusements of London ; but as the queen was to set 
out within a month for Tunbridge Wells, she was obliged 
to yield to necessity, and to return to the philosopher, 
Wetenhall, with the consolation of having engaged Miss 
Hamilton to come and live at her house, which was 
within ten or twelve miles of Tunbridge, as long as the 
court remained there. 



who married Miss Jennings, and not the author of this work, as L,ord 
Orford supposes. 



I 

MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 303 

Miss Hamilton promised not to abandon her in her 
retirement, and further engaged to bring the Chevalier 
de Grammont along with her, whose humor and con- 
versation extremely delighted her. The Chevalier de 
Grammont, who on all occasions started agreeable 
raillery, engaged on his part to bring George Hamilton, 
which words overwhelmed her with blushes. 

The court set out soon after* to pass about two months 
in the place of all Europe the most rural and simple, and 
yet, at the same time, the most entertaining and agree- 
able. 

Tunbridge is the same distance from Iyondon, that 
Fontainebleau is from Paris, and is, at the season, the 
general rendezvous of all the gay and handsome of both 
sexes. The company, though always numerous, is 
always select : since those who repair thither for diver- 
sion, ever exceed the number of those who go thither 
for health. Everything there breathes mirth and pleas- 
ure : constraint is banished, familiarity is established 
upon the first acquaintance, and joy and pleasure are the 
sole sovereigns of the place. 

The company are accommodated with lodgings in 
little, clean and convenient habitations, that lie strag- 
gling and separated from each other, a mile and a half 
all round the Wells, where the company meet in the 
morning : this place consists of a long walk, shaded by 
spreading trees, under which they walk while they are 
drinking the waters : on one side of this walk is a long 
row of shops, plentifully stocked with all manner of 
toys, lace, gloves, stockings, and where there is raffling, 
as at Paris, in the Foire de Saint Germain : on the other 
side of the walk is the market ; and, as it is the custom 
here for every person to buy their own provisions, care 
is taken that nothing offensive appears on the stalls. 

* This was in 1664, probably as soon as the queen was sufficiently 
recovered from the illness mentioned in note on p. 153. See Burr's 
History of Tunbridge Wells, p. 43. 



304 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

Here young, fair, fresh-colored country girls, with clean 
linen, small straw hats, and neat shoes and stockings,, 
sell game, vegetables, flowers and fruit : here one may 
live as one pleases : here is, likewise, deep play, and no 
want of amorous intrigues. As soon as the evening 
comes, every one quits his little palace to assemble at 
the bowling-green, where, in the open air, those who^ 
choose, dance upon a turf more soft and smooth than the 
finest carpet in the world. 

L,ord Muskerry* had, within two or three short miles, 
of Tunbridge, a very handsome seat called Summer-hill ; 
Miss Hamilton, after having spent eight or ten days at 
Peckham, could not excuse herself from passing the re- 
mainder of the season at his house ; and, having obtained, 
leave of Mr. Wetenhall, that his lady should accompany 
her, they left the melancholy residence of Peckham, and 
its tiresome master, and fixed their little court at Sum- 
mer-hill, t 



* Eldest son to the Earl of Clancarty; "a young man," says Lord' 
Clarendon, "of extraordinary courage and expectation, who had been, 
colonel of a regiment of foot in Flanders, under the duke, and had the 
general estimation of an excellent officer. He was of the duke's bed- 
chamber ; and the earl (i. e. of Falmouth) and he were, at that time, so 
near the duke, that His Highness was all covered with their blood. 
There fell, likewise, in the same ship, and at the same instant, Mr.. 
Richard Boyle, a younger sou of the Earl of Burlington, a youth of 
great hope." — Continuation of Clarendon' s Life, p. 266. 

f Lord Orford supposes this place came to Lord Muskerry through 
the means of his elder brother: but in this he is mistaken, as it be- 
longed to him in right of his wife, the only daughter of Lord Clan- 
rickard. This seat is about five miles from the Wells, and was once 
the residence and property of Sir Francis Walsingham, from whom it 
descended to his daughter Frances, who married first Sir Philip Sydney ; 
secondly, the unfortunate Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex : and lastly, 
Richard de Burgh, Marquis of Clanrickard. In Walker's History of 
Independence, we are told, that ' Somer-hill, a pleasant seat, worth 
one thousand pounds a-year, belonging to the Earl of St. Albans, (who 
was also Marquis of Clanrickard,) is given by the junta to the blood- 
hound Bradshaw : So he hath warned the Countesse of Leicester, who. 
formerly had it in possession, to raise a debt of three thousand pounds,. 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 305 

They went every day to court, or the court came to 
them. The queen even surpassed her usual attentions 
in inventing and supporting entertainments : she en- 
deavored to increase the natural ease and freedom of 
Tunbridge, by dispensing with, rather than requiring, 
those ceremonies that were due to her presence ; and, 
confining in the bottom of her heart that grief and un- 
easiness she could not overcome, she saw Miss Stewart 
triumphantly possess the affections of the king, without 
manifesting the least uneasiness. 

Never did love see his empire in a more flourishing 
condition than on this spot: those who were smitten 
before they came to it, felt a mighty augmentation of 
their flame; and those who seemed the least susceptible 
of love laid aside their natural ferocity, to act in a new 
character. For the truth of the latter, we shall only 
relate the change which soon appeared in the conduct of 
Prince Rupert* 

pretended due to her from the said earle, (which she had already 
raised fourfold,) to quiet the possession against our lord's day next.'* 
At the restoration it seems to have returned to its original owner. 
History of Kent, vol. ii., p. 341. 

* Lord Orford's contrast to this character of Prince Rupert is too just 
to be here omitted. " Born with the taste of an uncle whom his sword 
was not fortunate in defending, Prince Rupert was fond of those sciences 
which soften and adorn a hero's private hours, and knew how to mix 
them with his minutes of amusement, without dedicating his life to 
their pursuit, like us, who, wanting capacity for momentous views, 
make serious study of what is only the transitory occupation of a genius. 
Had the court of the first Charles been peaceful, how agreeably had 
the prince's congenial propensity flattered and confirmed the inclina- 
tion of his uncle ! How the muse of arts would have repaid the 
patronage of the monarch, when, for his first artist, she would have 
presented him with his nephew ! How different a figure did the same 
prince make in a reign of dissimilar complexion ! The philosophic 
warrior, who could relax himself into the ornament of a refined court, 
was thought a savage mechanic, when courtiers were only voluptuous 
wits. L,et me transcribe a picture of Prince Rupert, drawn by a man 
who was far from having the least portion of wit in that age, who was 
superior to its indelicacy, and who yet was so overborne by its preju- 
20 



306 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

He was brave and courageous, even to rashness ; but 
cross-grained and incorrigibly obstinate : his genius was 
fertile in mathematical experiments, and he possessed 
some knowledge of chemistry : he was polite even to ex- 
cess, unseasonably; but haughty and even brutal, when he 
ought to have been gentle and courteous: he was tall and 
his manners were ungracious: he had a dry hard-favored 
visage, and a stern look, even when he wished to please; 
but when he was out of humor, he was the true picture of 
reproof. 

The queen had sent for the players, either that there 
might be no intermission in the diversions of the place, 
or, perhaps, to retort upon Miss Stewart, by the presence 
of Nell Gwyn, part of the uneasiness she felt from hers. 
Prince Rupert found charms in the person of another 
player called Hughes, * who brought down and greatly 
subdued his natural fierceness. From this time, adieu 
alembics, crucibles, furnaces, and all the black furniture 



dices, that he had the complaisance to ridicule virtue, merit, talents. 
— But Prince Rupert, alas ! was an awkward lover ! " Lord Orford 
here inserts the character in the text, and then adds, ' ' What pity that 
we, who wish to transmit this prince's resemblance to posterity on a 
fairer canvas, have none of these inimitable colors to efface the harsher 
likeness ! We can but oppose facts to wit, truth to satire.— How un- 
equal the pencils ! yet what these lines cannot do, they may suggest : 
they may induce the reader to reflect, that if the prince was defective 
in the transient varnish of a court, he at least was adorned by the arts 
with that polish which alone can make a court attract the attention of 
subsequent ages." — Catalogue of Engravers, p. 135, 8vo. ed. 

* Mrs. Hughes was one of the actresses belonging to the king's 
company, and one of the earliest female performers. According to 
Downes, she commenced her theatrical career after the opening of 
Drury L,ane theatre, in 1663. She appears to have been the first female 
representative of Desdemona. By Prince Rupert she had a daughter, 
named Ruperta, married to Lieutenant-general Howe, who survived 
her husband many years, dying at Somerset house, about the year 1 740. 
For Mrs. Hughes, Prince Rupert bought the magnificent seat of Sir 
Nicholas Crispe, near Hammersmith, now the residence of the Mar- 
grave of Brandenburgh, which cost ^"25,000 the building. From the 
dramatis personas to Tom Essence, licensed 1676, we find Mrs. Hughes 
was then on the stage, and in the duke's company. 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 



307 



of the forges : a complete farewell to all mathematical 
instruments and chemical speculations : sweet powder 
and essences were now the only ingredients that occu- 
pied any share of his attention. The impertinent gipsy 
chose to be attacked in form; and proudly refusino- 
money, that, in the end, she might sell her favors at a 
dearer rate, she caused the poor prince to act a part so 
unnatural, that he no longer appeared like the same 




MRS. HUGHES. 

person. The king was greatly pleased with this event, 
for which great rejoicings were made at Tunbridge ; but 
nobody was bold enough to make it the subject of satire, 
though the same constraint was not observed with other 
ridiculous personages. 

There was dancing every day at the queen's apart- 
ments, because the physicians recommended it, and no 
person thought it amiss : for even those who cared the 
least for it, chose that exercise to digest the waters rather 



308 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

than walking. Lord Musketry thought himself secure* 
against his lady's rage for dancing; for, although he was 
ashamed of it, the princess of Babylon was, by the grace 
of God, six or seven months advanced in pregnancy ; and 
to complete her misfortune, the child had fallen all on 
one side, so that even Euclid would have been puzzled 
to say what her figure was. The disconsolate lady, see- 
ing Miss Hamilton and Mrs. Wetenhall set out every 
morning, sometimes on horseback and sometimes in a 
coach, but ever attended by a gallant troop to conduct 
them to court, and to convey them back, she fancied a 
thousand times more delights ate;Tunbridge than in 
reality there were, and she did not cease in her imagina- 
tion, to dance over at Summer-hill all the country dances 
which she thought had been danced at Tunbridge. She 
could no longer support the racking torments which 
disturbed her mind, when relenting heaven, out of pity 
to her pains and sufferings, caused Lord Muskerry to> 
repair to London, and kept him there two whole days :. 
as soon as ever he had turned his back, the Babylonian 
princess declared her resolution to make a trip to court. 
She had a domestic chaplain who did not want sense, 
and Lord Muskerry, for fear of accidents, had recom- 
mended her to the wholesome counsels and good prayers- 
of this prudent divine; but in vain were all his preach- 
ings and exhortations to stay at home; in vain did he set 
before her eyes her husband's commands, and the dan- 
gers to which she would expose herself in her present 
condition; he likewise added that her pregnancy, being 
a particular blessing from heaven, she ought therefore 
to be so much the more careful for its preservation, since- 
it cost her husband, perhaps, more trouble than she was; 
aware of, to obtain it. These remonstrances were alto- 
gether ineffectual: Miss Hamilton and her cousin Weten- 
hall, having the complaisance to confirm her in her res- 
olution, they assisted in dressing her the next morning, 
and set out along with her: all their skill and dexterity 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 309 

were requisite to reduce her shape into some kind of 
symmetry; but, having at last pinned a small cushion 
under her petticoat on the right side, to counteract the 
untoward appearance the little infant occasioned by 
throwing itself on the left, they almost split their sides 
with laughter, assuring her at the same time that she 
looked perfectly charming. 

As soon as she appeared, it was generally believed 
that she had dressed herself in a farthingale, in order 
to make her court to the queen ; but every person was 
pleased at her arrival: those who were unacquainted with 
the circumstances assured her in earnest that she was 
pregnant with twins ; and the queen, who envied her 
condition, notwithstanding the ridiculous appearance 
she then made, being made acquainted with the mo- 
tive of her journey, was determined to gratify her in- 
clinations. 

As soon as the hour for country dances arrived, her 
cousin Hamilton was appointed her partner : she made 
some faint excuses at first on account of the inconvenient 
situation she was then in : but soon suffered them to be 
overcome, in order, as she said, to show her duty to the 
queen ; and never did a woman in this world enjoy such 
•complete satisfaction. 

We have already observed that the greatest prosperity 
is liable to the greatest change : Lady Muskerry, trussed 
up as she was, seemed to feel no manner of uneasiness 
from the motion in dancing; on the contrary, being only 
apprehensive of the presence of her husband, which 
would have destroyed all her happiness, she danced 
with uncommon briskness, lest her ill stars should bring 
him back before she had fully satisfied herself with it. 
In the midst, therefore, of her capering in this indiscreet 
manner, her cushion came loose, without her perceiving 
it, and fell to the ground in the very middle of the first 
round. The Duke of Buckingham, who watched her, 
took it up instantly, wrapped it up in his coat, and, 



310 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

mimicking the cries of a new-born infant, he went about 
inquiring for a nurse for the young Muskerry among the 
maids of honor. 

This buffoonery, joined to the strange figure of the 
poor lady, had almost thrown Miss Stewart into hys- 
terics ; for the princess of Babylon, after this accident, 
was quite flat on one side, and immoderately protuberant 
on the other. All those who had before suppressed their 
inclinations to laugh now gave themselves free scope, 
when they saw that Miss Stewart was ready to split her 
sides. The poor lady was greatly disconcerted : every 
person was officious to console her ; but the queen, who 
inwardly laughed more heartily than any, pretended to 
disapprove of their taking such liberties. 

Whilst Miss Hamilton and Mrs. Wetenhall endeavored 
to refit Lady Muskerry in another room, the Duke of 
Buckingham told the king that, if the physicians would 
permit a little exercise immediately after a delivery, the 
best way to recover Lady Muskerry was to renew the 
dance as soon as ever her infant was replaced ; this ad- 
vice was approved, and accordingly put in execution. 
The queen proposed, as soon as she appeared, a second 
round of country-dances ; and Lady Muskerry accept- 
ing the offer, the remedy had its desired effect, and en- 
tirely removed every remembrance of her late mishap. 

Whilst these things were passing at the king's court, 
that of the Duke of York took a journey on the other 
side of London ; * the pretence of this journey was to 

* In Sir John Reresby's Memoirs, 8vo., 1735, p. 11, sub anno 1665, it 
is said, Aug. 5 : " His Royal Highness the duke and his duchess came 
down to York, where it was observed that Mr. Sidney, the handsomest 
youth of his time, and of the duke's bedchamber, was greatly in love 
with the duchess ; and indeed he might well be excused ; for the duchess, 
daughter to Chancellor Hyde, was a very handsome personage, and a 
woman of fine wit. The duchess, on her part, seemed kind to him, 
but very innocently ; but he had the misfortune to be banished the 
court afterwards, for another reason, as was reported." Burnet men- 
tions this transaction, and insinuates that to this cause is to be ascribed 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 311 

visit the county whose name he bore ; but love was the 
real motive. The duchess, since her elevation, had con- 
ducted herself with such prudence and circumspection 
as could not be sufficiently admired: such were her man- 
ners, and such the general estimation in which she was 
held, that she appeared to have found out the secret of 
pleasing every one ; a secret yet more rare than the 
grandeur to which she had been raised : but, after hav- 
ing gained universal esteem, she was desirous of being 
more particularly beloved ; or, more properly speaking, 
malicious Cupid assaulted her heart, in spite of the 
discretion, prudence and reason with which she had 
fortified it. 

In vain had she said to herself a hundred times, that 
if the duke had been so kind as to do her justice by fall- 
ing in love with her, he had done her too much honor 
by making her his wife ; that with respect to his incon- 
stant disposition, which estranged him from her, she 
ought to bear it with patience, until it pleased heaven to 
produce a change in his conduct ; that the frailties on 
his part, which might to her appear injurious, would 
never justify in her the least deviation from her duty ; 
and, as resentment was still less allowable, she ought to 
endeavor to regain him by a conduct entirely opposite to 
his own. In vain was it, as we have said before, that 
she had long resisted Love and his emissaries by the help 
of these maxims : how solid soever reason, and however 
obstinate wisdom and virtue may be, there are yet cer- 
tain attacks which tire by their length, and, in the end, 
subdue both reason and virtue itself. 

The Duchess of York was one of the highest feeders in 
England : as this was an unforbidden pleasure she in- 
dulged herself in it, as an indemnification for other self- 
denials. It was really an edifying sight to see her at 



the duchess's conversion to popery.— See Burnet's History of his Own 
Times, vol. i., p. 318. 



312 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

table. The duke, on the contrary, being incessantly in 
the hurry of new fancies, exhausted himself by his in- 
constancy, and was gradually wasting away ; whilst the 
poor princess, gratifying her good appetite, grew so fat 
and plump that it was a blessing to see her. It is not 
easy to determine how long things would have con- 
tinued in this situation, if Love, who was resolved to 
have satisfaction for her late conduct, so opposite to the 
former, had not employed artifice as well as force to dis- 
turb her repose. 

He at first let loose upon her resentment and jealousy 
two mortal enemies to all tranquillity and happiness. A 
tall creature, pale-faced, and nothing but skin and bone, 
named Churchill,* whom she had taken for a maid of 
honor, became the object of her jealousy, because she 
was then the object of the duke's affection. The court 
was not able to comprehend how, after having been in 
love with Lady Chesterfield, Miss Hamilton, and Miss 
Jennings, he could have any inclination for such a 
creature ; but they soon perceived that something more 
than unaccountable variety had a great share in effecting 
this conquest. 

The duchess beheld with indignation a choice which 
seemed to debase her own merit in a much greater de- 
gree than any of the former ; at the very instant that in- 
dignation and jealousy began to provoke her spleen, 



* Miss Arabella Churchill, daughter of Sir Winston Churchill of 
Wotton Basset, in the county of Wilts, and sister to the celebrated 
John, Duke of Marlborough. She was born 1648. By the Duke of 
York she was mother of, 1, James, Duke of Berwick, ; 2, Henry Fitz- 
James, commonly called the Grand Prior, born 1673, who was, after 
the revolution, created by his father Duke of Albemarle, and died 1702 ; 
3, Henrietta, born 1670, married to Lord Waldegrave, and died 1730. 
Miss Churchill afterwards became the wife of Charles Godfrey, Esq., 
clerk-comptroller of the green cloth, and master of the jewel office, by 
whom she had two daughters ; one, Charlotte, married to Lord Fal- 
mouth ; and the other, Elizabeth, to Edmund Dunch, Esq. Mrs. God- 
frey died in May, 1730, at the age of 82. 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 313 

perfidious Cupid threw in the way of her passions and 
resentments the amiable, handsome Sidney ; and, whilst 
he kept her eyes fixed upon his personal perfections, 
diverted her attention from perceiving the deficiency of 
his mental accomplishments : she was wounded before 
she was aware of her danger ; but the good opinion 
Sidney had of his own merit did not suffer him long to 
be ignorant of such a glorious conquest ; and, in order 
more effectually to secure it, his eyes rashly answered 
everything which those of her Royal Highness had the 
kindness to tell him, whilst his personal accomplish- 
ments were carefully heightened by all the advantages 
of dress and show. 

The duchess, foreseeing the consequences of such an 
engagement, strongly combated the inclination that 
hurried her away ; but Miss Hobart, siding with that 
inclination, argued the matter with her scruples, and, in 
the end, really vanquished them. This girl had in- 
sinuated herself into her Royal Highness' s confidence by 
a fund of news with which she was provided the whole 
year round : the court and the city supplied her ; nor was 
it very material to her whether her stories were true or 
false, her chief care being that they should prove agree- 
able to her mistress : she knew, likewise, how to gratify 
her palate, and- constantly provided a variety of those 
dishes and liquors which she liked best. These quali- 
fications had rendered her necessary ; but, desirous of 
being still more so, and having perceived both the airs 
that Sidney gave himself, and what was passing in the 
heart of her mistress, the cunning Hobart took the 
liberty of telling her Royal Highness that this un- 
fortunate youth was pining away solely on her account ; 
that it was a thousand pities a man of his figure should 
lose the respect for her which was most certainly her 
due, merely because she had reduced him to such a 
state that he could no longer preserve it ; that he was 
gradually dying away on her account, in the sight of 



314 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

the whole court ; that his situation would soon be gener- 
ally remarked, except she made use of the proper means 
to prevent it ; that, in her opinion, her Royal Highness 
ought to pity the miserable situation into which her 
charms had reduced him, and to endeavor to alleviate 
his pain in some way or other. The duchess asked her 
what she meant by "endeavoring to alleviate his pain 
in some way or other." " I mean, madam," answered 
Miss Hobart, ' ' that, if either his person be disagreeable, 
or his passion troublesome, you will give him his dis- 
charge ; or, if you choose to retain him in your service, 
as all the princesses in the world would do in your place, 
you will permit me to give him directions from you for 
his future conduct, mixed with a few grains of hope, to 
prevent his entirely losing his senses, until you find a 
proper occasion yourself to acquaint him with your 
wishes." "What!" said the duchess, "would you 
advise me, Hobart — you, who really love me — to engage 
in an affair of this nature, at the expense of my honor, 
and the hazard of a thousand inconveniences ! If such 
frailties are sometimes excusable, they certainly are not 
so in the high station in which I am placed ; and it 
would be an ill-requital on my part for his goodness who 

raised me to the rank I now fill, to " "All this is 

very fine," interrupted Miss Hobart: "but is it not 
very well known that he only married you because he 
was importuned so to do ? Since that I refer to yourself 
whether he has ever restrained his inclination a single 
moment, giving you the most convincing proofs of the 
change that has taken place in his heart, by a thousand 
provoking infidelities ? Is it still your intention to per- 
severe in a state of indolence and humility, whilst the 
duke, after having received the favors, or suffered the 
repulses, of all the coquettes in England, pays his 
addresses to the maids of honor, one after the other, and 
at present places his whole ambition and desires in the 
conquest of that ugly skeleton, Churchill ? What ! 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 315 

Madam, must then your prime of life be spent in a sort 
of widowhood, in deploring your misfortunes, without 
ever being permitted to make use of any remedy that 
may offer ? A woman must be endowed with insuper- 
able patience, or with an inexhaustible degree of resig- 
nation, to bear this. Can a husband, who disregards 
you both night and day, really suppose, because his wife 
eats and drinks heartily, as, God be thanked, your Royal 
Highness does, that she wants nothing else than to sleep 
well too ? Faith, such conduct is too bad : I therefore 
once more repeat that there is not a princess in the uni- 
verse who would refuse the homage of a man like 
Sidney, when her husband pays his addresses else- 
where. ' ' 

These reasons were certainly not morally good ; but 
had they been still worse the duchess would have yielded 
to them, so much did her heart act in concert with Miss 
Hobart, to overthrow her discretion and prudence. 

This intrigue began at the very time that Miss Hobart 
advised Miss Temple not to give any encouragement to 
the addresses of the handsome Sidney. As for him, no 
sooner was he informed by the confidante Hobart that 
the goddess accepted his adoration than he immediately 
began to be particularly reserved and circumspect in his 
behavior, in order to divert the attention of the public ; 
but the public is not so easily deceived as some people 
imagine. 

As there were too many spies, too many inquisitive 
people and critics, in a numerous court, residing in the 
midst of a populous city, the duchess to avoid exposing 
the inclinations of her heart to the scrutiny of so many 
inquisitors, engaged the Duke of York to undertake the 
journey before mentioned, whilst the queen and her 
court were at Tunbridge. 

This conduct was prudent ; and, if agreeable to her, 
was far from displeasing to any of her court, except Miss 
Jennings : Jermyn was not of the party ; and, in her 



316 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

opinion, every party was insipid in which he was not 
one of the company. He had engaged himself in an 
enterprise above his strength, in laying a wager which 
the Chevalier de Grammont had laid before, and lost. 
He betted five hundred guineas that he would ride 
twenty miles in one hour upon the same horse, in the 
high road. The day he had fixed upon for his race was 
the very same in which Miss Jennings went to the for- 
tune-teller's. 

Jermyn was more fortunate than her in this under- 
taking : he came off victorious ; but as his courage had 
far exceeded the strength of his constitution in this exer- 
tion to win the wager, he got a violent fever into the 
bargain, which brought him very low. Miss Jennings 
inquired after his health ; but that was all she dared to 
do. In modern romances, a princess need only pay a 
visit to some hero, abandoned by his physicians, a perfect 
cure would be wrought in three days ; but since Miss 
Jennings had not been the cause of Jermyn' s fever, she 
was not certain of relieving him from it, although she 
had been sure that a charitable visit would not have 
been censured in a malicious court. Without therefore 
paying any attention to the uneasiness she might feel 
upon the occasion, the court set out without him : she 
had, however, the gratification to testify her ill-humor 
throughout the whole journey, by appearing displeased 
with everything which seemed to afford satisfaction to 
all the rest of the company. 

Talbot made one of the company ; and flattering him- 
self that the absence of a dangerous rival might produce 
some change in his favor, he was attentive to all the 
actions, motions, and even gestures, of his former mis- 
tress. There was certainly enough fully to employ his 
attention : it was contrary to her disposition to remain 
long in a serious humor. Her natural vivacity hurried 
her away, from being seemingly lost in thought, into 
sallies of wit, which afforded him hopes that she would 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 317 

soon forget Jermyn, and remember that his own passion 
was the first she had encouraged. However, he kept his 
distance, notwithstanding his love and his hopes, being 
of opinion that it ill became an injured lover to betray 
either the least weakness, or the smallest return of affec- 
tion, for an ungrateful mistress who had deserted him. 

Miss Jennings was so far from thinking of his resent- 
ments, that she did not even recollect he had ever paid 
his addresses to her ; and her thoughts being wholly 
occupied upon the poor sick man, she conducted herself 
towards Talbot as if they never had anything to say to 
each other. It was to him that she most usually gave 
her hand, either in getting into or out of the coach ; she 
conversed more readily with him than any other person, 
and, without intending it, did everything to make the 
court believe she was cured of her passion for Jermyn 
in favor of her former lover. 

Of this he seemed likewise convinced, as well as the rest ; 
and thinking it now proper to act another part, in order 
to let her know that his sentiments with respect to her 
were still the same, he had resolved to address her in the 
most tender and affectionate manner upon this subject. 
Fortune seemed to have favored him, and to have 
smoothed the way for this intended harangue : he was 
alone with her in her chamber ; and, what was still 
better, she was rallying him concerning Miss Boynton ; 
saying, ' ' that they were undoubtedly much obliged to 
him for attending them on their journey, whilst poor 
Miss Boynton had fainting fits at Tunbridge, at least 
twice every day, for love of him. ' ' Upon this discourse, 
Talbot thought it right to begin the recital of his suffer- 
ings and fidelity, when Miss Temple, with a paper in 
her hand, entered the room. This was a letter in verse, 
which I/Ord Rochester had written some time before, 
upon the intrigues of the two courts ; wherein, upon the 
subject of Miss Jennings, he said: "that Talbot had 
struck terror among the people of God, by his gigantic 



318 MKMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

stature ; but that Jermyn, like a little David, had van- 
quished the great Goliath." Jennings, delighted with 
this allusion, read it over two or three times, thought it 
more entertaining than Talbot's conversation, at first 
heartily laughed at it, but soon after, with a tender air, 
"Poor little David ! " said she, with a deep sigh, and 
turning her head on one side during this short reverie, 
she shed a few tears, which assuredly did not flow for 
the defeat of the giant. This stung Talbot to the quick ; 
and, seeing himself so ridiculously deceived in his hopes, 
he went abruptly out of the room, vowing never to think 
any more of a giddy girl, whose conduct was regulated 
neither by sense nor reason ; but he did not keep his 
resolution. 

The other votaries of love, who were numerous in 
this court, were more successful, the journey being 
undertaken solely on that account. There were con- 
tinual balls and entertainments upon the road ; hunting, 
and all other diversions, wherever the court halted in its 
progress. The tender lovers flattered themselves with 
the thought of being able to crown their happiness as 
they proceeded in their journey ; and the beauties who 
governed their destiny did not forbid them to hope. 
Sidney paid his court with wonderful assiduity : the 
duchess made the duke take notice of his late perfect 
devotion to his service : his Royal Highness observed it, 
and agreed that he ought to be remembered upon the 
first opportunity, which happened soon after. 

Montagu, as before mentioned, was master of the horse 
to the duchess : he was possessed of a great deal of wit, 
had much penetration, and loved mischief. How could 
she bear such a man near her person, in the present 
situation of her heart ? This greatly embarrassed her ; 
but Montagu's elder brother having, very a-propos, got 
himself killed where he had no business,* the duke 

* Montagu's elder brother was killed before Bergen, about August, 
1665. See Arlington' s Letters, vol. ii., p. 87. 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 319 

obtained for Montagu the post of master of the horse to 
the queen, which the deceased enjoyed ; and the hand- 
some Sidney was appointed to succeed him in the same 
employment to the duchess. All this happened accord- 
ing to her wish ; and the duke was highly pleased that 
he had found means to promote these two gentlemen at 
once, without being at the least expense. 

Miss Hobart greatly applauded these promotions : she 
had frequent and long conversations with Sidney, which, 
being remarked, some did her the honor to believe it 
was upon her own account ; and the compliments that 
were made her upon the occasion she most willingly 
received. The duke, who believed it at first, observed 
to the duchess the unaccountable taste of certain persons, 
and how the handsomest young fellow in England was 
infatuated with such a frightful creature. 

The duchess confessed that taste was very arbitrary ; 
the truth whereof he himself seemed to be convinced of, 
since he had fixed upon the beauteous Helen for his 
mistress. I know not whether this raillery caused him 
to reflect for what reasons he made his choice ; but it is 
certain he began to cool in his affections for Miss 
Churchill ; and perhaps he would entirely have aban- 
doned this pursuit, had not an accident taken place, 
which raised in him an entirely new inclination for her. 

The court having halted for a few days in a fine open 
country, the duchess was desirous of seeing a greyhound 
course. This diversion is practised in England upon 
large downs, where the turf, eaten by the sheep, is par- 
ticularly green, and wonderfully even. She was in her 
coach, and all the ladies on horseback, every one of 
them being attended by her squire ; it therefore was but 
reasonable that the mistress should likewise have her 
squire. He accordingly was at the side of her coach, 
and seemed to compensate for his deficiencies in con- 
versation, by the uncommon beauty of his mien and 
figure. 



320 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

The duke attended Miss Churchill, not for the sake 
of besieging her with soft flattering tales of love, but, on 
the contrary, to chide her for sitting so ill on horseback. 
She was one of the most indolent creatures in the world ; 
and although the maids of honor are generally the worst 
mounted of the' whole court, yet, in order to distinguish 
her, on account of the favor she enjoyed, they had given 
her a very pretty, though rather a high-spirited horse ; 
a distinction she would very willingly have excused 
them. 

The embarrassment and fear she was under had added 
to her natural paleness. In this situation, her coun- 
tenance had almost completed the duke's disgust, when 
her horse, desirous of keeping pace with the others, set 
off in a gallop, notwithstanding her greatest efforts to 
prevent it ; and her endeavors to hold him in, firing his 
mettle, he at length set off at full speed, as if he was 
running a race against the duke' s horse. 

Miss Churchill lost her seat, screamed out, and fell 
from her horse. A fall in so quick a pace must have 
been violent; and yet it proved favorable to her in every 
respect ; for, without receiving any hurt, she gave the 
lie to all the unfavorable suppositions that had been 
formed of her person, in judging from her face. The 
duke alighted, in order to help her : she was so greatly 
stunned, that her thoughts were otherwise employed 
than about decency on the present occasion ; and those 
who first crowded around her found her rather in a neg- 
ligent posture : they could hardly believe that limbs of 
such exquisite beauty could belong to Miss Churchill's 
face. After this accident, it was remarked that the 
duke's tenderness and affection for her increased every 
day ; and, towards the end of the winter, it appeared that 
she had not tyrannized over his passion, nor made him 
languish with impatience. 

The two courts returned to London much about the 
same time, equally satisfied with their respective excur- 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 321 

sions ; though the queen was disappointed in the hopes 
she had entertained of the good effects of the Tunbridge 
waters. 

It was about this time that the Chevalier de Gram- 
mont received a letter from the Marchioness de Saint- 
Chaumont, his sister, acquainting him that he might 
return when he thought proper, the king having given 
him leave. He would have received this news with joy 
at any other time, whatever had been the charms of the 
English court ; but, in the present situation of his heart, 
he could not resolve to quit it. 

He had returned from Tunbridge a thousand times 
deeper in love than ever ; for, during this agreeable ex- 
cursion, he had every day seen Miss Hamilton, either in 
the marshes of melancholy Peckham or in the delicious 
walks of cheerful Summer-hill, or in the daily diversions 
and entertainments of the queen's court ; and whether 
he saw her on horseback, heard her conversation, or 
observed her in the dance, still he was persuaded that 
Heaven had never formed an object in every respect 
more worthy of the love, and more deserving of the 
affection, of a man of sense and delicacy. How then 
was it possible for him to bear the thoughts of leaving 
her ? This appeared to him absolutely impracticable ; 
however, as he was desirous of making a merit with her, 
of the determination he had made to neglect his fortune, 
rather than to be separated from her charms, he showed 
her his sister's letter : but this confidence had not the 
success he expected. 

Miss Hamilton, in the first place, congratulated him 
upon his recall : she returned him many thanks for the 
sacrifice he intended to make her ; but as this testimony 
of affection greatly exceeded the bounds of mere gal- 
lantry, however sensibly she might feel this mark of his 
tenderness, she was, however, determined not to abuse 
it. In vain did he protest that he would rather meet 
-death than part from her irresistible charms ; and her 
21 



322 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 



irresistible charms protested that he should never see 
them more, unless he departed immediately. Thus was 
he forced to obey. However, he was allowed to flatter 
himself that these positive orders, how harsh soever they 
might appear, did not flow from indifference ; that she 
would always be more pleased with his return than with 
his departure, for which she was now so urgent ; and 
having generously given him assurances that, so far as 
depended upon herself, he would find, upon his return, 
no variation in her sentiments during his absence, he 
took leave of his friends, thinking of nothing but his 
return, at the very time he was making preparations for 
his departure. 




COUNTESS OF SHREWSBURY. 




CHAPTER XI. 

The nearer the Chevalier de Grammont approached 
the court of France, the more did he regret his absence 
from that of England ; not but that he expected a gra- 
cious reception at the feet of his master, whose anger no 
one provoked with impunity ; but who likewise knew 
how to pardon, in such a manner as to make the favor he 
conferred in every respect to be felt. 

A thousand different thoughts occupied his mind upon 
the journey : sometimes he reflected upon the joy and 
satisfaction his friends and relations would experience 
upon his return ; sometimes upon the congratulations 
and embraces of those who, being neither the one nor 
the other, would, nevertheless, overwhelm him with im- 
pertinent compliments : all these ideas passed quickly 
through his head ; for a man deeply in love makes it a 
scruple of conscience not to suffer any other thoughts 
to dwell upon his mind than those of the object beloved. 
It was then the tender, endearing remembrance of what 
he had left in London that diverted his thoughts from 
Paris ; and it was the torments of absence that prevented 
his feeling those of the bad roads and the bad horses. 
His heart protested to Miss Hamilton, between Mon- 
treal and Abbeville, that he only tore himself from her 

(323) 



324 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

with such haste to return the sooner ; after which, by a 
short reflection, comparing the regret he had formerly 
felt upon the same road, in quitting France for England, 
with that which he now experienced in quitting England 
for France, he found the last much more insupportable 
than the former. 

It is thus that a man in love entertains himself upon 
the road ; or rather, it is thus that a trifling writer abuses 
the patience of his reader, either to display his own sen- 
timents, or to lengthen out a tedious story; but God for- 
bid that this character should apply to ourselves, since 
we profess to insert nothing in these memoirs, but what 
we have heard from the mouth of him whose actions and 
sayings we transmit to posterity. 

Who, except Squire Feraulas, has ever been able to 
keep a register of all the thoughts, sighs, and exclama- 
tions of his illustrious master? For my own part, 1 
should never have thought that the attention of the 
Count de Grammont, which is at present so sensible to 
inconveniences and dangers, would have ever permitted 
him to entertain amorous thoughts upon the road, if he 
did not himself dictate to me what I am now writing. 

But let us speak of him at Abbeville. The postmaster 
was his old acquaintance : his hotel was the best provided 
of any between Calais and Paris ; and the Chevalier de 
Grammont, alighting, told Termes he would drink a 
glass of wine during the time they were changing horses. 
It was about noon: and, since the preceding night, 
when they had landed at Calais, until this instant, they 
had not eat a single mouthful. Termes, praising the 
Lord, that natural feelings had for once prevailed over 
the inhumanity of his usual impatience, confirmed him 
as much as possible in such reasonable sentiments. 

Upon their entering the kitchen, where the Chevalier 
generally paid his first visit, they were surprised to see 
half a dozen spits loaded with game at the fire, and every 
other preparation for a magnificent entertainment. The 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 325 

heart of Termes leaped for joy: he gave private orders to 
the hostler to pull the shoes off some of the horses, that 
he might not be forced away from this place before he 
had satisfied his craving appetite. 

Soon after a number of violins and hautboys, attended 
by all the mob of the town, entered the court. The 
landlord, being asked the reason of these great prepara- 
tions, acquainted the Chevalier de Grammont that they 
were for the wedding of one of the most wealthy gentle- 
men in the neighborhood with one of the handsomest 
girls in the whole province ; that the entertainment was 
to be at his house ; and that, if his lordship chose to stop, 
in a very short time he would see the new-married 
couple arrive from the church, since the music was al- 
ready come. He was right in his conjectures; for these 
words were scarce out of his mouth, when three uncom- 
monly large coaches, loaded with lackeys, as tall as 
Swiss, with most gaudy liveries, all covered with lace, 
appeared in the court, and disembarked the whole wed- 
ding company. Never was country magnificence more 
naturally displayed : rusty tinsel, tarnished lace, striped 
silks, little eyes, and full swelling breasts, appeared on 
every side. 

If the first sight of the procession surprised the Chev- 
alier de Grammont, faithful Termes was no less aston- 
ished at the second. The little that was to be seen of 
the bride's face appeared not without beauty; but no 
judgment could be formed of the remainder: four dozen 
of patches, at least, and ten ringlets of hair, on each side, 
most completely concealed her from all human eyes; but 
it was the bridegroom who most particularly attracted 
the Chevalier de Grammont' s attention. 

He was as ridiculously dressed as the rest of the com- 
pany, except a coat of the greatest magnificence, and of 
the most exquisite taste. The Chevalier de Grammont, 
walking up to him to examine his dress, began to com- 
mend the embroidery of his coat. The bridegroom 



326 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

thought himself much honored by this examination, and 
told him he bought it for one hundred and fifty louis, at 
the time he was paying his addresses to his wife. 
" Then you did not get it made here? " said the Cheva- 
lier de Grammont. "No," replied the other; "I 
bought it of a Iyondon merchant, who had ordered it for 
an English lord." The Chevalier de Grammont, who 
now began to perceive in what manner the adventure 
would end, asked him if he should recollect the mer- 
chant if he saw him again ? " Recollect him ! " replied 
the other, " I surely ought ; for I was obliged to sit up 
drinking with him all night at Calais, as I was endeav- 
oring to beat down the price." Termes had vanished 
out of sight as soon as ever this coat appeared, though 
he little supposed that the cursed bridegroom would 
have any conversation concerning it with his master. 

The Chevalier's thoughts were some time wavering 
between his inclination to laugh, and a desire of hanging 
Master Termes; but the long habit of suffering himself 
to be robbed by his domestics, together with the vigil- 
ance of the criminal, whom his master could not reproach 
with having slept in his service, inclined him to clem- 
ency ; and yielding to the importunities of the country 
gentleman, in order to confound his faithful servant, he 
sat down to table, to make the thirty-seventh of the com- 
pany. 

A short time after, he desired one of the waiters to call 
for a gentleman whose name was Termes. He immedi- 
ately appeared ; and as soon as the master of the feast 
saw him, he rose from table, and offering him his hand ; 
"Welcome, my friend," said he; "you see that I have 
taken good care of the coat which you sold me with so 
much reluctance, and that I have kept it for a good pur- 
pose." 

Termes, having put on a face of brass, pretended not 
to know him, and pushed him back with some degree 
of rudeness. "No, no ! " said the other; "since I was 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 327 

•obliged to sit up with you the whole night, in order to 
strike the bargain, you shall pledge me in the bride's 
health." The Chevalier de Grammont, who saw that 
Termes was disconcerted, notwithstanding his impu- 
dence, said to him with a smile: " Come, come, my good 
London merchant, sit down, as you are so civilly invited: 
we are not so crowded at table but that there will be 
room enough for such an honest gentleman as yourself." 
At these words five-and-thirty of the guests were in motion 
to receive this new visitor: the bride alone, out of an idea 
of decorum, remained seated; and the audacious Termes, 
having swallowed the first shame of this adventure, be- 
gan to lay about him at such a rate, as if it had been his 
intention to swallow all the wine provided for the wed- 
ding, if his master had not risen from the table as they 
were taking off four-and-twenty soups, to serve up as 
many other dishes in their stead. 

The company were not so unreasonable as to desire a 
man who was in such haste to remain to the end of a 
wedding dinner; but they all got up when he arose from 
table, and all that he could obtain from the bridegroom 
was that the company should not attend him to the gate 
of the inn. As for Termes, he wished they had not 
quitted him till the end of their journey, so much did he 
dread being left alone with his master. 

They had advanced some distance from Abbeville, and 
-were proceeding on in the most profound silence, when 
Termes, who expected an end to it in a short time, was 
only solicitous in what manner it might happen, whether 
his master would attack him with a torrent of invectives, 
and certain epithets which were most justly his due, or 
whether, in an insulting, ironical manner, he might 
make use of such commendations as were most likely to 
confound him ; but finding, instead of either, that he 
remained in sullen silence, he thought it prudent rather 
to prevent the speech the Chevalier was meditating than 
to suffer him to think longer about it ; and accordingly, 



328 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

arming himself with all his effrontery : ' ' You seem to* 
be very angry, Sir," said he, "and I suppose you think 
you have reason for being so ; but the devil take me, if 
you are not mistaken in reality. ' ' 

"How! traitor! in reality?" said the Chevalier de 
Grammont. "It is then because I have not had thee 
well thrashed, as thou hast for a long time merited." 
"Look ye, Sir," replied Termes, "you always run into* 
a passion, instead of listening to reason ! Yes, Sir, I 
maintain that what I did was for your benefit." "And 
was not the quicksand likewise for my service?" said 
the Chevalier de Grammont. "Have patience, if you 
please, ' ' pursued the other : "I know not how that 
simpleton of a bridegroom happened to be at the custom- 
house when my portmanteau was examined at Calais : 
but these silly cuckolds thrust in their noses everywhere. 
As soon as ever he saw your coat, he fell in love with it. 
I immediately perceived he was a fool ; for he fell down 
upon his knees, beseeching me to sell it him. Besides 
being greatly rumpled in the portmanteau, it was all 
stained in front by the sweat of the horses. I wonder 
how the devil he has managed to get it cleaned ; but, 
faith, I am the greatest scoundrel in the world, if you 
would ever have put it on. In a word, it cost you one 
hundred and forty louis d'ors, and seeing he offered me- 
one hundred and fifty for it ; ' My master, ' s^id I, ' has no 
occasion for this tinselled bauble to distinguish him at 
the ball ; and, although he was pretty full of cash when 
I left him, how know I in what situation he may be- 
upon my return ? there is no certainty at play. ' To be 
brief, Sir, I got ten louis d'ors for it more than it cost 
you : this you see is all clear profit : I will be accountable 
to you for it, and you know that I am sufficiently sub- 
stantial to make good such a sum. Confess now, do you 
think you would have appeared to greater advantage at 
the ball, if you had been dressed out in that damned 
coat, which would have made you look just like the 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 329 

village bridegroom to whom we sold it ? and yet how 
you stormed at London when you thought it lost ; what 
fine stories you told the king about the quicksand ; and 
how churlish you looked, when you first began to 
suppose that this country looby wore it at his wed- 
ding ! " 

What could the Chevalier reply to such uncommon 
impudence ? If he indulged his resentment, he must 
either have most severely bastinadoed him, or he must 
have discarded him, as the easiest escape the rogue could 
expect ; but he had occasion for him during the re- 
mainder of his journey ; and as soon as he was at Paris, 
he had occasion for him for his return. 

The Marechal de Grammont had no sooner notice of 
his arrival than he went to him at the hotel ; and, the 
first embraces being over on both sides, "Chevalier," 
said the Marechal, ' ' how many days have you been in 
coming from London hither? for God knows at what 
a rate you travel on such occasions." The Chevalier 
told him he had been three days upon the road ; and, to 
excuse himself for making no more haste, he related to 
him his Abbeville adventure. " It is a very entertaining 
one," said his brother; "but what is yet more enter- 
taining is, that it will be your fault if you do not find 
your coat still at table ; for the country gentry are not 
accustomed to rise very soon from a wedding dinuer. ' ' 
And then, in a very serious tone, told him, "he knew 
not who had advised him to this unexpected return, 
which might probably ruin all his affairs ; but he had 
orders from the king to bid him go back again without 
appearing at court. He told him afterwards that he was 
very much astonished at his impatience, as, till this 
time, he had conducted himself uncommonly well, and 
was sufficiently acquainted with the king's temper to 
know that the only way to merit his pardon was to wait 
until it freely came from his clemency." 

The Chevalier, in justification of his conduct, pro- 



330 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

duced Madame de Saint Chaumont's letter, and told the 
Marechal that he would very willingly have spared her 
the trouble of writing him such kind of news, to occa- 
sion him so useless a journey. "Still more indiscre- 
tion," replied his brother; " for, pray how long has our 
sister been either secretary of state or minister, that she 
should be employed by the king to make known His 
Majesty's order? Do you wish to know the real state 
•of the case? Some time ago the king told Madame* 
how you had refused the pension the King of England 
offered you : he appeared pleased with the manner in 
which Comminges had related to him the circumstances 
attending it, and said he was pleased with you for it : 
Madame interpreted this as an order for your recall ; and 
Madame de Saint Chaumont being very far from pos- 
sessing that wonderful discretion she imagines herself 
mistress of, she hastened to despatch to you this con- 
sequential order in her own hand. To conclude : 
Madame said yesterday, when the' king was at dinner, 
that you would very soon be here ; and the king, as soon 

* Henrietta, youngest daughter of Charles the First, born at Exeter 
16th June, 1644, from whence she was removed to London in 1646, and, 
-with her governess, Lady Dalkeith, soon afterwards conveyed to France. 
On the restoration, she came over to England with her mother, but 
returned to France in about six months, and was married to Philip, 
Duke of Orleans, only brother of Louis XIV. In May, 1670, she came 
again to Dover, on a mission of a political nature, it is supposed, from 
the French king to her brother, in which she was successful. She died, 
soon after her return to France, suddenly, not without suspicion of 
having been poisoned by her husband. King James, in his Diary, says, 
" On the 22d of June, the news of the Duchess of Orleans' death arrived. 
It was suspected that counter-poisons were given her ; but when she 
was opened, in the presence of the English ambassador, the Earl of 
Ailesbury, an English physician and surgeon, there appeared no grounds 
of suspicion of any foul play. Yet Bucks talked openly that she was 
poisoned ; and was so violent as to propose to foreign ministers to make 
war on France." — Macphersori 's Original Papers, vol. i. At the end 
of Lord Arlington 's Letters are five very remarkable ones from a person 
of quality, who is said to have been actually on the spot, giving a par- 
licular relation of her death. 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 331 

as dinner was over, commanded me to send you back as 
soon as you arrived. Here you are ; set off again im- 
mediately. ' ' 

This order might have appeared severe to the Cheva- 
lier de Grammont at any other time ; but, in the present 
state of his heart, he soon resolved upon obeying. Noth- 
ing gave him uneasiness but the officious advice which 
had obliged him to leave the English court ; and being 
entirely unconcerned that he was not allowed to see the 
French court before his departure, he only desired the 
Marechal to obtain leave for him to stay a few days to 
collect in some play debts which were owing him. 
This request was granted, on condition that he should 
not remain in Paris. 

He chose Vaugirard for his retreat : it was there that 
he had several adventures which he so often related in so 
humorous and diverting a manner, that it would be tedi- 
ous to repeat them ; there it was that he administered the 
sacrament in so solemn a manner, that, as there did not 
remain a sufficient number of Swiss at Versailles to guard 
the chapel, Vardes was obliged to acquaint the king that 
they were all gone to the Chevalier de Grammont, who 
was administering the sacrament at Vaugirard : there 
likewise happened that wonderful adventure which 
threw the first slur upon the reputation of the great 
Saucourt, when, having a tete-a-tete with the gardener's 
daughter, the horn, which was agreed upon as the signal 
to prevent surprises, was sounded so often, that the fre- 
quent alarms cooled the courage of the celebrated Sau- 
court, and rendered useless the assignation that was 
procured for him with one of the prettiest girls in the 
neighborhood. It was, likewise, during his stay at Vau- 
girard, that he paid a visit to Mademoiselle de l'Hopital 
at Issy, to inquire into the truth of a report of an amour 
between her and a man of the long robe; and it was there 
that, on his arriving unexpectedly, the President de 
Maisons was forced to take refuge in a closet, with so 



332 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

much precipitation, that half of his robe remained on the 
outside when he shut the door ; while the Chevalier 
de Grammont, who observed it, made his visit exces- 
sively long, in order to keep the two lovers upon the 
rack. 

His business being settled he set out for England on 
the wings of love. Termes redoubled his vigilance upon 
the road. The post horses were ready in an instant at 
every stage : the winds and tides favored his impatience ; 
and he reached L,ondon with the highest satisfaction. 
The court was both surprised and charmed at his sudden 
return. No person condoled with him upon his late dis- 
appointment, which had occasioned him to come back, 
as he testified no manner of uneasiness concerning it 
himself; nor was Miss Hamilton in the least displeased 
at his readiness in obeying the orders of the king, his, 
master. 

Nothing new had happened in the English court 
during his short absence; but it assumed a different, 
aspect soon after his return : I mean with respect 
to love and pleasure, which were the most serious con- 
cerns of the court during the greatest part of this gay 
reign. 

The Duke of Monmouth,* natural son to Charles the 
Second, now made his first appearance in his father's 



* James, Duke of Monmouth, was the son of Charles II., by one 
Lucy Walters. He was born at Rotterdam, April 9, 1649, and bore the 
name of James Crofts until the restoration. His education was chiefly- 
at Paris, under the eye of the queen-mother, and the government of 
Thomas Ross, Esq., who was afterwards secretary to Mr. Coventry 
during his embassy in Sweden. At the restoration he was brought to 
England, and received with joy by his father, who heaped honors and" 
riches upon him, which were not sufficient to satisfy his ambitious, 
views. To exclude his uncle, the Duke of York, from the throne, he 
was continually intriguing with the opposers of government, and was 
frequently in disgrace with his sovereign. On the accession of James 
II. he made an ineffectual attempt to raise a rebellion, was taken pris- 
oner, and beheaded on Tower-hill, 15th July, 1685. 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 



333 



court His entrance upon the stage of the world was so 
brilliant, his ambition had occasioned so many consid- 
erable events, and the particulars of his tragical end are 
so recent that it were needless to produce any other 
traits to give a sketch of his character. By the whole 
tenor of his life, he appeared to be rash m his under- 
takings, irresolute in the execution, and dejected m his 
misfortunes, in which, at least, an undaunted resolution 
ouo-ht to equal the greatness of the attempt. 

His figure and the exterior graces of his person were 
such, that nature perhaps never formed anything more 
complete. His face was extremely handsome ; and yet 
it was a manly face, neither inanimate nor effeminate ; 
each feature having its beauty and peculiar delicacy: he 
had a wonderful genius for every sort of exercise, an en- 
gaging aspect, and an air of grandeur : in a word, he 
possessed every personal advantage ; but then he was 
greatly deficient in mental accomplishments. He had 
no sentiments but such as others inspired him with; and 
those who first insinuated themselves into his friendship 
took care to inspire him with none but such as were per- 
nicious. The astonishing beauty of his outward form 
caused universal admiration : those who before were 
looked upon as handsome were now entirely forgotten 
.at court : and all the gay and beautiful of the fair sex 
were at his devotion. He was particularly beloved by 
the king, but the universal terror of husbands and lovers. 
This, however, did not long continue; for nature not 
havino- endowed him with qualifications to secure the 
possession of the heart, the fair sex soon perceived the 

defect. 

The Duchess of Cleveland was out of humor with the 
king because the children she had by His Majesty were 
like so many little puppets, compared to this new Adonis. 
She was the more particularly hurt, as she might have 
boasted of being the queen of love, in comparison with 
the duke's mother. The king, however, laughed at her 



334 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

reproaches, as, for some time, she had certainly no right 
to make any; and as this piece of jealousy appeared to be 
more ill-founded than any she had formerly affected, no 
person approved of her ridiculous resentment. Not suc- 
ceeding in this, she formed another scheme to give the 
king uneasiness. Instead of opposing his extreme ten- 
derness for his son, she pretended to adopt him in her 
affections, by a thousand commendations and caresses, 
which she was daily and continually increasing. As 
these endearments were public, she imagined they could 
not be suspected ; but she was too well known for her 
real design to be mistaken. The king was no longer 
jealous of her; but, as the Duke of Monmouth was of an 
age not to be insensible to the attractions of a woman 
possessing so many charms, he thought it proper to with- 
draw him from this pretended mother-in-law, to preserve 
his innocence, or at least his fame, uncontaminated : it 
was for this reason, therefore, that the king married him 
so young. 

An heiress of five thousand pounds a year in Scotland,* 

* This was Lady Anne Scott, daughter and sole heiress of Francis, 
Earl of Buccleugh, only son and heir of Walter, Lord Scott, created 
Earl of Buccleugh in 1619. On their marriage the duke took the sur- 
name of Scott, and he and his lady were created Duke and Duchess of 
Buccleugh, Earl and Countess of Dalkeith, Baron and Baroness of 
Whitchester and Ashdale in Scotland, by letters patent, dated April 20, 
1673. Also, two days after, he was installed at Windsor, the king and 
queen, the Duke of York, and most of the court being present. The 
next day, being St. George's day, His Majesty solemnized it with a 
royal feast, and entertained the knights' companions in St. George's 
hall in the castle of Windsor. Though there were several children of 
this marriage, it does not appear to have been a happy one ; the duke, 
without concealment, attaching himself to Lady Harriet Wentworth, 
whom, with his dying breath, he declared he considered as his only 
wife in the sight of God. The duchess, in May, 1688, took to her sec- 
ond husband, Charles, Lord Cornwallis. She died Feb. 6, 1731-32, in 
the 81st year of her age, and was buried at Dalkeith in Scotland. Our 
author is not more correct about figures than he avows himself to be in 
the arrangement of facts and dates : the duchess's fortune was much 
greater than he has stated it to have been. 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 335 

offered very a-propos : her person was full of charms, and 
her mind possessed all those perfections in which the 
handsome Monmouth was deficient. 

New festivals and entertainments celebrated this mar- 
riage. The most effectual method to pay court to the 
kino- was to outshine the rest in brilliancy and grandeur; 
and whilst these rejoicings brought forward all manner 
of gallantry and magnificence, they either revived old or 
established new amours. 

The fair Stewart, then in the meridian of her glory, 
attracted all eyes, and commanded universal respect and 
admiration. The Duchess of Cleveland endeavored to 
eclipse her at this fete, by a load of jewels, and by all 
the artificial ornaments of dress ; but it was in vain : her 
face looked rather thin and pale, from the commence- 
ment of a third or fourth pregnancy, which the king was 
still pleased to place to his own account ; and, as for the 
rest, her person could in no respect stand in competition 
with the grace and beauty of Miss Stewart. 

It was during this last effort of her charms, that she 
would have been queen of England had the king been 
as free to give his hand as he was to surrender his heart: 
for it was at this time that the Duke of Richmond took 
it into his head either to marry her, or to die in the 
attempt. 

A few months after the celebration of the Duke of 
Monmouth's nuptials, Killegrew,* having nothing better 

* Thomas Killegrew was one of the sons of Sir Robert Killegrew, 
chamberlain to the queen, and was born at Hanworth, in the county 
of Middlesex, in the month of February, 1611. He seems to have 
been early intended for the court, and to qualify him for rising there, 
every circumstance of his education appears to have been adapted. He 
was appointed page of honor to King Charles I., and faithfully ad- 
hered to his cause until the death of his master ; after which he at- 
tended his son in his exile ; to whom he was highly acceptable, on 
account of his social and convivial qualifications. He married Mrs. 
Cecilia Crofts, one of the maids of honor to Queen Henrietta. In 
1651 he was sent to Venice, as resident at that state. He died at White- 



336 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

to do, fell in love with Lady Shrewsbury ; and, as Lady 
Shrewsbury, by a very extraordinary chance, had no en- 
gagement at that time, their amour was soon established. 
No one thought of interrupting an intimacy which did 
not concern any one ; but Killegrew thought proper to 
disturb it himself. Not that his happiness fell short of 
his expectation, nor did possession put him out of love 
with a situation so enviable ; but he was amazed that he 
was not envied, and offended that his good fortune raised 
him no rivals. 

He possessed a great deal of wit, and still more elo- 
quence, which most particularly displayed itself when 
he was a little elevated with the juice of the grape : he 
then indulged himself in giving luxurious descriptions 
of Lady Shrewsbury's most secret charms and beauties, 
which above half the court were as well acquainted with 
as himself. 

The Duke of Buckingham was one of those who could 
only judge from outward appearances : and appearances, 
in his opinion, did not seem to promise anything so ex- 
quisite as the extravagant praises of Killegrew would 
infer. As this indiscreet lover was a frequent guest at 
the Duke of Buckingham's table, he was continually 
employing his rhetoric on this subject, and he had full 
opportunity for his harangues ; for they generally sat 
down to dinner at four o'clock, and only rose just in 
time for the play in the evening. 

The Duke of Buckingham, whose ears were contin- 
ually deafened with descriptions of Lady Shrewsbury's 
merits, resolved at last to examine into the truth of the 
matter himself. As soon as he had made the experi- 
ment, he was satisfied; and, though he fancied that fame 
did not exceed the truth, yet this intrigue began in such 
a manner that it was generally believed its duration 



hall, 19th March, 1682, bewailed, as it is said, by his friends, and truly 
wept for by the poor. 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 337 

would be short, considering the fickleness of both par- 
ties, and the vivacity with which they had engaged in 
it : nevertheless, no amour in England ever continued 
so long. 

The imprudent Killegrew, who could not be satisfied 
without rivals, was obliged, in the end, to be satisfied 
without a mistress. This he bore very impatiently ; but 
so far was Lady Shrewsbury from hearkening to, or 
affording any redress for the grievances at first com- 
plained of, that she pretended even not to know him. 
His spirit could not brook such treatment ; and, without 
ever considering that he was the author of his own dis- 
grace, he let loose all his abusive eloquence against her 
ladyship: he attacked her with the most bitter invectives 
from head to foot : he drew a frightful picture of her 
conduct ; and turned all her personal charms, which he 
used to extol, into defects. He was privately warned of 
the inconveniences to which these declamations might 
subject him, but despised the advice, and, persisting, he 
soon had reason to repent it. 

As he was returning one evening from the Duke of 
York's apartments at St. James's, three passes with a 
sword were made at him through his chair, one of which 
went entirely through his arm. Upon this, he was sen- 
sible of the danger to which his intemperate tongue had 
exposed him, over and above the loss of his mistress. 
The assassins made their escape across the Park, not 
doubting but they had dispatched him. 

Killegrew thought that all complaints would be use- 
less ; for what redress from justice could he expect for 
an attempt of which his wounds were his only evidence? 
And, besides, he was convinced that if he began a prose- 
cution founded upon appearances and conjectures, the 
parties concerned would take the shortest and most effec- 
tual means to put a stop to all inquiries upon the subject, 
and that their second attempt would not prove ineffec- 
tual. Being desirous, therefore, of deserving mercy 
22 



338 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

from those who had endeavored to assassinate him, he 
no longer continued his satires, and said not a word of 
the adventure. The Duke of Buckingham and Lady 
Shrewsbury remained for a long period both happy and 
contented. * Never before had her constancy been of so 
long a duration; nor had he ever been so submissive and 
respectful a lover. 

This continued until Lord Shrewsbury, who never 
before had shown the least uneasiness at his lady's mis- 
conduct, thought proper to resent this : it was public 
enough, indeed, but less dishonorable to her than any 
of her former intrigues. Poor Lord Shrewsbury, too 
polite a man to make any reproaches to his wife, was 
resolved to have redress for his injured honor: he accord- 
ingly challenged the Duke of Buckingham ; and the 
Duke of Buckingham, as a reparation for his honor, hav- 
ing killed him upon the spot, remained a peaceable pos- 
sessor of this famous Helen. The public was at first 
shocked at the transaction; but the public grows familiar 
with everything by habit, and by degrees both decency 
and even virtue itself are rendered tame and overcome. 
The queen was at the head of those who exclaimed 
against so public and scandalous a crime, and against the 
impunity of such a wicked act. As the Duchess of 
Buckingham f was a short, fat body, like her majesty, 

* In a letter from Andrew Marvel, dated August 9, 1671, lie says : 
"Buckingham runs out all with the Lady Shrewsbury, whom he be- 
lieves he had a son (by) to whom the king stood godfather : it died 
young Earl of Coventry, and was buried in the sepulchre of his 
fathers." — Marvel's Works, vol. i., p. 406. The duel in which the Earl 
of Shrewsbury was killed by the Duke of Buckingham happened 16th 
March, 1667. 

f Mary, Duchess of Buckingham, was the only daughter of Thomas, 
Lord Fairfax, and Anne, the daughter of Horace, Lord Vere ; a most 
virtuous and pious lady, in a vicious age and court. If she had any of 
the vanities, she had certainly none of the vices of it. The duke and 
she lived lovingly and decently together ; she patiently bearing with 
those faults in him which she could not remedy. She survived him 
many years, and died near St. James's, at Westminster, and was buried 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 



339 



who never had had any children, and whom her husband 
had abandoned for another ; this sort of parallel in their 
situations interested the queen in her favor ; but it 
was all in vain : no person paid any attention to them ; 
the licentiousness of the age went on uncontrolled, 
though the queen endeavored to raise up the serious part 
of the nation, the politicians and devotees, as enemies 
.against it. 




DUCHESS OF BUCKINGHAM. 



The fate of this princess was in many cases truly mel- 
ancholy : the king, indeed, paid her every outward 
attention ; but that was all : she easily perceived that 
the respect he entertained for her daily diminished, in 
proportion as the credit of her rivals increased : she saw 



in the vault of the family of Villiers, in Henry VII. 's chapel, anno 
1705, setat 66." — Brian Fairfax's Life of the Duke of Buckingham, 
-4to., 1758, p. 39- 



340 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 



that the king, her husband, was now totally indifferent 
about legitimate children, since his all-charming mis- 
tresses bore him others. As all the happiness of her 
life depended upon that blessing, and as she nattered her- 
self that the king would prove kinder to her if Heaven 
would vouchsafe to grant her desires, she had recourse to- 
all the celebrated secrets against sterility : pious vows,, 
nine days' prayers, and offerings having been tried in all 
manners, but all to no purpose, she was at last obliged? 
to return to natural means. 

What would she have given on this occasion for the 
ring which Archbishop Turpin wore on his finger, and. 
which made Charlemagne run after him, in the same 
manner as it had made him run after one of his concu- 
bines, from whose finger Turpin had taken it after her 
death ! But it is now many years since the only talis- 
mans for creating love are the charms of the person 
beloved, and foreign enchantments have been looked: 
upon as ineffectual. The queen's physicians, men of 
great prudence, sagacity, and wisdom, as they always- 
are, having duly weighed and considered that the cold: 
waters of Tunbridge had not succeeded in the preceding 
year, concluded that it would be advisable for her to try 
the warm baths at Bristol. * This journey was therefore 
fixed for the next season ; and in the confidence of its 



* I believe that Bath, not Bristol, is the place intended by the author. 
Queen Katherine's visit to the former place was earlier than to Tun- 
bridge, being about the latter end of September, 1663. See Wood's- 
Description of Bath, vol. i., p. 217. I do not find she ever was at 
Bristol, but at the time mentioned in the following extract : 

" 1663. Sir John Knight, mayor. John Broadway, Richard Stremer,. 
sheriffs. 

"The 5th of September, the king and queen, with James, Duke of 
York, and his Duchess, and Prince Rupert, etc., came to Bristol, and 
were splendidly received and entertained by the mayor, at a dinner 
provided on the occasion. They returned to Bath at four o'clock. 150 
pieces of ordnance were discharged in the Marsh, at three distinct 
times." — Barrett's History, etc., of Bristol, p. 692. 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 341 

proving effectual, this excursion would have afforded her 
much pleasure, if the most dangerous of her rivals had 
not been one of the first that was appointed to attend the 
court. The Duchess of Cleveland being then near her 
time, there was no uneasiness on her account ; the com- 
mon rules of decency required a little attention. The 
public, it is true, was not either more or less acquainted 
with the circumstances of her situation ; by the care 
which she now took to conceal it ; but her appearing at 
court in her present condition would have been too great 
an insult to the queen. Miss Stewart, more handsome 
than ever, was appointed for this excursion, and began 
to make magnificent preparations. The poor queen 
durst say nothing against it; but all hopes of success 
immediately forsook her. What could the baths, or the 
feeble virtue of the waters perform against charms that 
entirely counteracted their effects, either through the 
grief and uneasiness they occasioned her, or by their 
;still more powerful consequences ? 

The Chevalier de Grammont, to whom all pleasures 
were insipid without the presence of Miss Hamilton, 
was yet unable to excuse himself from attending the 
court: the king delighted too much in his sprightly con- 
versation to leave him behind; and however pleasing 
Tris company might have been in the solitude occasioned 
rjy the absence of the court, Miss Hamilton did not 
think it right to accept his offer of staying in town, 
rjecause she was obliged to remain there : she, however, 
granted him the permission of writing her an account of 
any news that might occur upon the journey. He failed 
not to make use of this permission, in such a manner as 
one may imagine; and his own concerns took up so much 
space in his letters, that there was very little room left 
for other subjects during his stay at the baths. As 
absence from the object of his affections rendered this 
place insupportable, he engaged in everything that 
might dissipate his impatience, until the happy moment 
of return arrived. 



342 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

He had a great esteem for the elder of the Hamiltons ;; 
no less esteem, and far more friendship for his brother, 
whom he made the confidant of his passion and attach- 
ment for his sister. The Chevalier was also acquainted 
with his first engagements with his cousin Wetenhall ; 
but being ignorant of the coldness that had interrupted 
a commerce so brisk in its commencement, he was sur- 
prised at the eagerness he showed upon all occasions to> 
please Miss Stewart: his assiduity appeared to the Chev- 
alier de Grammont to exceed those civilities and atten- 
tions that are usually paid for the purpose of making 
court to the favorites of princes. He observed him more 
strictly, and soon perceived that he was deeper in love 
with her than was consistent either with his fortune or 
his repose. As soon as the remarks he made had con- 
firmed him in his suspicions, he resolved to use his 
endeavors to prevent the consequences of an engage- 
ment pernicious in every respect : but he waited for 
a proper opportunity of speaking to him upon the sub- 
ject. 

In the meantime, the court enjoyed every kind of 
diversion, in a place where amusement is sought with 
avidity. The game of bowls, which in France is the 
pastime of mechanics and servants only, is quite the 
contrary in England, where it is the exercise of gentle- 
men, and requires both art and address: it is only in use 
during the fair and dry part of the season, and the places 
where it is practised are charming, delicious walks, 
called bowling-greens, which are little square grass-plots, 
where the turf is almost as smooth and level as the cloth 
of a billiard table. As soon as the heat of the day is 
over, all the company assemble there : they play deep r 
and spectators are at liberty to make what bets they 
please. 

The Chevalier de Grammont, long before initiated in 
the English games and diversions, had been engaged in 
a horse-race, in which he was indeed unsuccessful ; but 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 343 

he had the satisfaction of being convinced by experience, 
that an English horse can go twenty miles upon the high 
road in less than an hour. He was more fortunate at 
cock-fighting; and, in the bets he made at the bowling- 
green, the party he betted upon never failed to win. 

Near all these places of diversion there is usually a 
sort of inn, or house of entertainment, with a bower or 
arbor, in which are sold all sorts of English liquors, such 
as cider, mead, bottled beer, and Spanish wines. Here 
the rooks meet every evening to drink, smoke, and to 
try their skill upon each other, or, in other words, to 
endeavor to trick one another out of the winnings of the 
day. These rooks are, properly speaking, what we call 
capons or piqueurs in France; men who always carry 
money about them, to enable them to lend to losing 
gamesters, for which they receive a gratification, which 
is nothing for such as play deep, as it is only two per 
cent. , and the money to be repaid the next day. 

These gentlemen are so nice in their calculations, and 
so particularly skilful in all manner of games, that no 
person would dare to enter the lists with them, were 
they even assured that no unfairness would be practised. 
Besides, they make a vow to win four or five guineas a 
day, and to be satisfied with that gain; a vow which they 
seldom or never break. 

It was in the midst of a company of these rooks, that 
Hamilton found the Chevalier de Grammont, when 
he called in one evening to get a glass of cider. They 
were playing at hazard; and as he who holds the dice is 
supposed to have the advantage, the rooks did the Chev- 
alier de Grammont that honor out of compliment : he had 
the dice in his hand when Hamilton came into the room. 
The rooks, secure of their odds, were betting against him 
at a high rate, and he took all. 

Hamilton could hardly believe his eyes, to see a man 
of his experience and knowledge engaged in so unequal 
a contest; but it was to no purpose that he informed him 



344 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

of his danger, both aloud in French, and in private by 
signs; he still disregarded his warnings, and the dice, 
that bore Caesar and his fortunes, performed a miracle in 
his favor. The rooks were defeated for the first time, 
but not without bestowing upon him all the encomiums 
and praises of being a very fair and honorable player, 
which they never fail to lavish upon those whom they 
wish to engage a second time; but all their commenda- 
tions were lost, and their hopes deceived : the Chevalier 
was satisfied with the first experiment. 

Hamilton, when the king was at supper, related to him 
how he found the Chevalier de Grammont rashly en.- 
gaged with the rooks, and in what manner he had been 
providentially preserved. " Indeed, Sir," said the Chev- 
alier de Grammont, "the rooks were discomfited for 
once;" and thereupon related the adventure to His 
Majesty in his usual way, attracting the attention of all 
the company, to a circumstance trifling in itself, but 
rendered interesting by his humor. 

After supper Miss Stewart, in whose apartment there 
was play, called Hamilton to her to tell the story. The 
Chevalier de Grammont, perceiving that she attended to 
him with pleasure, was fully confirmed in the truth of 
his first conjectures; and, having carried Hamilton home 
with him to supper, they began to discourse freely to- 
gether as usual: "George," said the Chevalier de Gram- 
mont, ' ' are you in any want of money? I know you 
love play: perhaps it may not be so favorable to you as 
it is to me. We are at a great distance from L,ondom 
Here are two hundred guineas: take them, I beseech 
you; they will do to play with at Miss Stewart's." 
Hamilton, who little expected this conclusion, was 
rather disconcerted. "How? at Miss Stewart's!" 
"Yes, in her apartments. Friend George," continued 
the Chevalier de Grammont, ' ' I have not yet lost my 
eyes: you are in love with her, and, if I am not mistaken, 
she is not offended at it; but tell me how you could 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 345 

resolve to banish poor Wetenhall from your heart, and 
suffer yourself to be infatuated with a girl, who perhaps 
after all is not worth the other, and who, besides, what- 
ever favorable dispositions she may have for you, will 
undoubtedly in the end prove your ruin. Faith, your 
brother and you are two pretty fellows in your choice. 
What! can you find no other beauties in all the court to 
fall in love with except the king's two mistresses! As 
for the elder brother, I can pardon him: he only took 
Lady Castlemaine after his master had done with her, 
and after Lady Chesterfield had discarded him; but, as 
for you, what the devil do you intend to do with a creat- 
ure on whom the king seems every day to dote with 
increasing fondness? Is it because that drunken sot 
Richmond has again come forward, and now declares 
himself one of her professed admirers? You will soon 
see what he will make by it: I have not forgotten what 
the king said to me upon the subject. 

' ' Believe me, my dear friend, there is no playing 
tricks with our masters; I mean, there is no ogling their 
mistresses. I myself wanted to play the agreeable in 
France with a little coquette whom the king did not care 
about, and you know how dearly I paid for it. I confess 
she gives you fair play, but do not trust to her. All the 
sex feel an unspeakable satisfaction at having men in 
their train, whom they care not for, and to use them as 
their slaves of state, merely to swell their equipage. 
Would it not be a great deal better to pass a week or ten 
days incognito at Peckham, with the philosopher Weten- 
hall' s wife, than to have it inserted in the Dutch Gazette 
— We hear from Bristol that such a one is banished the 
court on account of Miss Stewart, and that he is going 
to make a campaign in Guinea* on board the fleet that 



* This expedition was intended to have taken place in 1664. A full 
account of it, and how it came to be laid aside, may be seen in the 
Continuation of Ctarendon's Life, p. 225. 



346 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAM MONT. 

is fitting out for the expedition, under the command of 
Prince Rupert?" 

Hamilton, who was the more convinced of the truth 
of this discourse, the more he considered it, after musing 
some time, appeared to wake from a dream, and address- 
ing himself with an air of gratitude to the Chevalier de 
Grammont: "Of all the men in the world, my dear 
friend, ' ' said he, ' ■ you have the most agreeable wit, and 
at the same time the clearest judgment with respect to 
your friends: what you have told me has opened my 
eyes. I began to suffer myself to be seduced by the most 
ridiculous illusion imaginable, and to be hurried away 
rather by frivolous appearances than any real inclination: 
to you I owe the obligation of having preserved me from 
destruction at the very brink of a precipice. This is not 
the only kindness you have done me — your favors have 
been innumerable; and, as a proof of my gratitude for 
this last, I will follow your advice, and go into retire- 
ment at my cousin Wetenhall's, to eradicate from my 
recollection every trace of those chimeras which lately 
possessed my brain ; but so far from going thither incog- 
nito, I will take you along with me, as soon as the court 
returns to London. My sister shall likewise be of the 
party, for it is prudent to use all precautions with a man 
who, with a great deal of merit, on such occasions is not 
over-scrupulous, if we may credit your philosopher." 
"Do not pay any attention to that pedant," replied the 
Chevalier de Grammont; "but tell me what put it into 
your head to form a design upon that inanimate statue, 
Miss Stewart?" "How the devil should I know?" said 
Hamilton ; ' ' you are acquainted with all her childish 
amusements. The old Lord Carlingford* was at her 
apartment one evening, showing her how to hold a 



* Sir Theobald Taaffe, the second Viscount Taaffe, created Earl of 
Carlingford, in the county of Louth, by privy seal, 17th June, 1661,. 
and by patent, 26th June, 1662. — He died 31st December, 1677. 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 347 

lighted wax candle in her mouth, and the grand secret 
consisted in keeping the burning end there a long time 
without its being extinguished. I have, thank God, a 
pretty large mouth, and, in order to out-do her teacher, 
I took two candles into my mouth at the same time, and 
walked three times round the room without their going 
out. Every person present adjudged me the prize of this 
illustrious experiment, and Killegrew maintained that 
nothing but a lanthorn could stand in competition with 
me. Upon this she was like to die with laughing; and 
thus was I admitted into the familiarity of her amuse- 
ments. It is impossible to deny her being one of the 
most charming creatures that ever was: since the court 
has been in the country I have had a hundred opportu- 
nities of seeing her, which I had not before. You know 
that the dishabille of the bath is a great convenience for 
those ladies who, strictly adhering to all the rules of 
decorum, are yet desirous to display all their charms and 
attractions. Miss Stewart is so fully acquainted with the 
advantages she possesses over all other women, that it is 
hardly possible to praise any lady at court for a well- 
turned arm, and a fine leg, but she is ever ready to dis- 
pute the point by demonstration; and I really believe 
that, with a little address, it would not be difficult to 
induce her to strip naked, without ever reflecting upon 
what she was doing. After all, a man must be very 
insensible to remain unconcerned and unmoved on such 
happy occasions; and, besides, the good opinion we 
entertain of ourselves is apt to make us think a woman 
is smitten as soon as she distinguishes us by habitual 
familiarity, which most commonly signifies nothing. 
This is the truth of the matter with respect to myself : 
my own presumption, her beauty, the brilliant station 
that sets it off, and a thousand kind things she had said 
to me, prevented me from making serious reflections; but 
then, as some excuse for my folly, I must likewise tell 
you that the facility I found in making her the tenderest 



348 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

declarations by commending her, and her telling me in 
confidence a thousand things which she ought not to 
have entrusted me with, might have deceived or infatu- 
ated any other man as well as myself. 

' ' I presented her with one of the prettiest horses in 
England. You know what peculiar grace and elegance 
distinguish her on horseback. The king, who, of all the 
diversions of the chase, likes none but hawking, because 
it is the most convenient for the ladies, went out the 
other day to take this amusement, attended by all the 
beauties of his court. His majesty having galloped after 
a falcon, and the whole bright squadron after him, the 
rustling of Miss Stewart's petticoats frightened her horse, 
which was at full speed, endeavoring to come up with 
mine, that had been his companion ; so that I was the 
only witness of a disorder in her clothes, which displayed 
a thousand new beauties to my view. I had the good 
fortune to make such gallant and flattering exclamations 
upon that charming disorder as to prevent her being con- 
cerned or out of countenance upon it : on the contrary, 
this subject of my admiration has been frequently since 
the subject of our conversation, and did not seem to dis- 
please her. 

' ' Old Lord Carlingford, and that mad fellow, Crofts * 
(for I must now make you my general confession), those 
insipid buffoons, were frequently telling her some divert- . 
ing stories, which passed pretty well with the help of a 
few old threadbare jests, or some apish tricks in the re- 
cital, which made her laugh heartily. As for myself, 
who know no stories, and do not possess the talent of 



* William, Baron of Crofts, groom of the stole, and gentleman of 
the bed-chamber to the Duke of York ; captain of a regiment of 
guards of the queen-mother, gentleman of the bed-chamber to the 
king, and ambassador to Poland. He had been sent to France by the 
Duke of York, to congratulate Louis XIV. on the birth of the dauphin. 
See Biog. Brit, old Ed., vol. iv., p. 2738, and Continuation of Claren- 
don, p. 294. 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 349' 

improving them by telling, if I did know any, I was often 
greatly embarrassed when she desired me to tell her one : 
'I do not know one, indeed,' said I, one day when she 
was teazing me on the subject. ' Invent one, then,' said 
she. ' That would be still more difficult, ' replied I ; 
' but if you will give me leave, madam, I will relate to 
you a very extraordinary dream, which has, however, 
less appearance of truth in it than dreams generally 
have.' This excited her curiosity, which would brook 
no denial. I therefore began to tell her that the most 
beautiful creature in the world, whom I loved to distrac- 
tion, paid me a visit in my sleep. I then drew her own 
portrait, with a rapturous description of all her beauties; 
adding, that this goddess, who came to visit me with the 
most favorable intentions, did not counteract them by 
any unreasonable cruelty. This was not sufficient to> 
satisfy Miss Stewart's curiosity : I was obliged to relate 
every particular circumstance of the kindness I experi- 
enced from this delicate phantom ; to which she was so 
very attentive, that she never once appeared surprised 
or disconcerted at the luscious tale. On the contrary, 
she made me repeat the description of the beauty, which 
I drew as near as possible after her own person, and after 
such charms as I imagined of beauties that were un- 
known to me. 

"This is, in fact, the very thing that had almost de- 
prived me of my senses : she knew very well that she 
herself was the person I was describing : we were alone, 
as you may imagine, when I told her this story ; and my 
eyes did their utmost to persuade her that it was herself 
whom I drew. I perceived that she was not in the least 
offended at knowing this ; nor was her modesty in the 
least alarmed at the relation of a fiction, which I might 
have concluded in a manner still less discreet, if I had 
thought proper. This patient audience made me plunge 
headlong into the ocean of flattering ideas that presented 
themselves to my imagination. I then no longer thought 



350 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

of the king, nor how passionately fond he was of her, 
nor of the dangers attendant upon such an engagement : 
in short, I know not what the devil I was thinking of : 
but I am very certain that, if you had not been thinking 
for me, I might have found my ruin in the midst of these 
distracted visions. ' ' 

Not long after, the court returned to London ; and 
from that time, some malevolent star having gained the 
ascendant, everything went cross in the empire of Love: 
vexation, suspicions, or jealousies, first entered the field, 
to set all hearts at variance ; next, false reports, slander, 
and disputes, completed the ruin of all. 

The Duchess of Cleveland had been brought to bed 
while the court was at Bristol ; and never before had she 
recovered from her lying-in with such a profusion of 
charms. This made her believe that she was in a proper 
state to retrieve her ancient rights over the king's heart, 
if she had an opportunity of appearing before him with 
this increased splendor. Her friends being of the same 
opinion, her equipage was prepared for this expedition ; 
but the very evening before the day she had fixed on to 
set out, she saw young Churchill,* and was at once 
seized with a disease, which had more than once opposed 
her projects, and which she could never completely get 
the better of. 

* Afterwards the celebrated Duke of Marlborough. He was born 
midsummer day, 1650, and died June 16, 1722. Bishop Burnet takes 
notice of the discovery of this intrigue. ' ' The Duchess of Cleveland 
finding that she had lost the king, abandoned herself to great dis- 
orders ; one of which, by the artifice of the Duke of Buckingham, was 
discovered by the king in person, the party concerned leaping out of 
the window." — History of his Own Times, vol. i., p. 370. This was in 
1668. A very particular account of this intrigue is to be seen in the 
Atalantis of Mrs. Manley, vol. i., p. 30. The same writer, who had 
lived as companion to the Duchess of Cleveland, says, in the account 
of her own life, that she was an eye-witness when the duke, who had 
Teceived thousands from the duchess, refused the common civility of 
lending her twenty guineas at basset. — The History of Rivella, 4th ed., 
3725, P- 33- 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 351 

A man who, from an ensign in the guards, was raised 
to such a fortune, must certainly possess an uncommon 
share of prudence, not to be intoxicated with his happi- 
ness. Churchill boasted in all places of the new favor 
he had received : the Duchess of Cleveland, who neither 
recommended to him circumspection in his behavior, nor 
in his conversation, did not seem to be in the least con- 
cerned at his indiscretion. Thus this intrigue was be- 
come a general topic in all companies, when the court 
arrived in London, and occasioned an immense num- 
ber of speculations and reasonings : some said she had 
already presented him with Jermyn's pension and Jacob 
Hall's salary, because the merits and qualifications of 
both were united in his person : others maintained that 
he had too indolent an air, and too delicate a shape, long 
to maintain himself in her favor ; but all agreed that a 
man who was the favorite of the king's mistress, and 
brother to the duke's favorite, was in a fair way of pre- 
ferment, and could not fail to make his fortune. As a 
proof, the Duke of York soon after gave him a place in 
his household : this was naturally to be expected ; but 
the king, who did not think that Lady Cleveland's kind- 
ness to him was a sufficient recommendation to his favor, 
thought proper to forbid him the court. 

This good-natured king began now to be rather 
peevish : nor was it altogether without reason : he dis- 
turbed no person in their amours, and yet others had 
often the presumption to encroach upon his. Lord 
Dorset, first lord of the bed-chamber, had lately de- 
bauched from his service Nell Gwyn, the actress.* 



* On this passage, the first translator of this work, Mr. Boyer, has 
the following note : ' ' The author of these memoirs is somewhat mistaken 
in this particular ; for Nell Gwyn was my Lord Dorset's mistress, before 
the king fell in love with her ; and I was told by the late Mr. Dryden, 
that the king, having a mind to get her from his lordship, sent him upon 
a sleeveless errand (to France. However, it is not improbable that Nell 
was afterwards kinoS-toJier first lover." Of the early part of Nell's 



352 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

Lady Cleveland, whom he now no longer regarded, con- 
tinued to disgrace him by repeated infidelities with un- 
worthy rivals, and almost ruined him by the immense 

life, little is known but what may be collected from the lampoons of 
the times ; in which it is said that she was born in a night-cellar, sold 
fish about the streets, rambled from tavern to tavern, entertaining the 
company after dinner and supper with songs (her voice being very 
agreeable) ; was next taken into the house of Madame Ross, a noted 
courtezan ; and was afterwards admitted into the theatre, where she 
became the mistress of both Hart and Lacey, the celebrated actors. 
Other accounts say she was born in a cellar in the Coal-yard in Drury- 
lane ; and that she was first taken notice of when selling oranges in the 
play-house. She belonged to the king's company at Drury-lane, and, 
according to Downes, was received as an actress a few years after that 
house was opened, in 1663. The first notice I find of her is in the year 
1668, when she performed in Dryden's play of "Secret Love;" after 
which she may be traced every year until 1672, when I conjecture she 
quitted the stage. Her forte appears to have been comedy. In an 
epilogue to " Tyrannic Love," spoken by her, she says 

I walk, because I die 



Out of my calling in a tragedy. 

And from the same authority it may be collected that her person was 
small, and she was negligent in her dress. Her son, the Duke of St. 
Albans, was born before she left the stage, viz., May 8, 1670. Bishop 
Burnet speaks of her in these terms : ' ' Gwyn, the indiscreetest and wild- 
est creature that ever was in a court, continued, to the end of the king's 
life, in great favor, and was maintained at a vast expense. The Duke 
of Buckingham told me, that when she was first brought to the king, 
she asked only 500 pounds a-year, and the king refused it. But when 
he told me this, about four years after, he said she had got of the king 
above 60,000 pounds. She acted all persons in so lively a manner, 
and was such a constant diversion to the king, that even a new mis- 
tress could not drive her way ; but, after all, he never treated her 
with the decencies of a mistress." — History of his Own Times, vol. i., 
p. 369. The same author notices the king's attention to her on his 
death-bed. Cibber, who was dissatisfied with the bishop's account of 
Nell, says, — " If we consider her in all the disadvantages of her rank 
and education, she does not appear to have had any criminal errors, 
more remarkable than her sex's frailty, to answer for ; and if the same 
author, in his latter end of that prince's life, seems to reproach his 
memory with too kind a concern for her support, we may allow it be- 
comes a bishop to have had no eyes or taste for the frivolous charms or 
playful badinage of a king's mistress. Yet, if the common fame of her 




Of' 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 353 

sums she lavished on her gallants ; but that which most 
sensibly affected him, was the late coldness and threats 
of Miss Stewart. He long since had offered her all the 



may be believed, which, in my memory, was not doubted, she had less 
to be laid to her charge than any other of those ladies who were in the 
same state of preferment. She never meddled in matters of serious 
moment, or was the tool of working politicians ; never broke into those 
amorous infidelities which others, in that grave author, are accused of; 
but was as visibly distinguished by her particular personal inclination 
to the king, as her rivals were by their titles and grandeur." — Cibber's 
Apology, 8vo, p. 450. One of Madame Sevigne's letters exhibits no bad 
portrait of Mrs. Gwyn.— " Mademoiselle de K (Kerouaille, after- 
wards Duchess of Portsmouth) has not been disappointed in anything 
she proposed. She desired to be mistress to the king, and she is so : 
he lodges with her almost every night, in the face of all the court : she 
has had a son, who has been acknowledged, and presented with two 
duchies : she amasses treasure, and makes herself feared and respected 
by as many as she can. But she did not foresee that she should find a 
young actress in her way, whom the king dotes on ; and she has it not in 
her power to withdraw him from her. He divides his care, his time, and 
his health, between these two. The actress is as haughty as Mademoi- 
selle : she insults her, she makes grimaces at her, she attacks her, she 
frequently steals the king from her, and boasts whenever he gives her 
the preference. She is young, indiscreet, confident, wild, and of an 
agreeable humor : she sings, she dances, she acts her part with a good 
grace. She has a son by the king, and hopes to have him acknowledged. 
As to Mademoiselle, she reasons thus : This duchess, says she, pretends 
to be a person of quality : she says she is related to the best families in 
France : whenever any person of distinction dies, she puts herself in 
mourning. — If she be a lady of such quality, why does she demean her- 
self to be a courtezan ? She ought to die with shame. As for me, it is 
my profession : I do not pretend to anything better. He has a son by 
me : I pretend that he ought to acknowledge him ; and I am well 
assured he will ; for he loves me as well as Mademoiselle. This crea- 
ture gets the upper hand, and discountenances and embarrasses the 
duchess extremely." — Letter 92. Mr. Pennant says, " She resided at 
her house, in what was then called Pall-Mali. It is the first good one 
on the left hand of St. James' s-square, as we enter from Pail-Mall. The 
back-room on the ground floor was (within memory) entirely of looking 
glass, as was said to have been the ceiling. Over the chimney was her 
picture; and that of her sister was in a third room." — London, p. 101. 
At this house she died, in the year 1691, and was pompously interred 
in the parish church of St. Martin's in the fields ; Dr. Tennison, then 
vicar, and afterwards archbishop of Canterbury, preaching her funeral 
23 



354 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

settlements and all the titles she could desire, until he 
had an opportunity more effectually to provide for her, 
which she had pretended only to decline, for fear of the 
scandal they might occasion, on her being raised to a 
rank which would attract the public notice ; but since 
the return of the court, she had given herself other airs : 
sometimes she was for retiring from court, to appease 
the continual uneasiness her presence gave the queen : 
at other times it was to avoid temptations, by which she 
wished to insinuate that her innocence was still pre- 
served : in short, the king's heart was continually dis- 
tracted by alarms, or oppressed by humor and caprice. 

As he could not for his life imagine what Miss Stewart 
wished him to do, or what she would be at, he thought 
upon reforming his establishment of mistresses, to try 
whether jealousy was not the real occasion of her uneasi- 
ness. It was for this reason that, after having solemnly 
declared he would have nothing more to say to the 
Duchess of Cleveland, since her intrigue with Churchill, 
he discarded, without any exception, all the other mis- 
tresses which he had in the various parts of the town. 
The Nell Gwyns, the Misses Davis, * and the joyous train 



sermon. This sermon, we learn, was shortly afterwards brought for- 
wards at court by Lord Jersey, to impede the doctor's preferment : but 
Queen Mary, having heard the objection, answered — "What then? " in 
a sort of discomposure to which she was but little subject ; " I have 
heard as much : this is a sign that that poor unfortunate woman died 
penitent ; for, if I can read a man's heart through his looks, had not she 
made a pious and Christian end, the doctor could never have been in- 
duced to speak well of her." — Life of Dr. Thomas Tennison, p. 20. 
Cibber also says, he had been unquestionably informed that our fair 
offender's repentance appeared in all the contrite symptoms of a Chris- 
tian sincerity. — Gibber's Apology, p. 451. 

* Mrs. Mary Davis was an actress belonging to the duke's theatre. 
She was, according to Downes, one of the four female performers who 
boarded in Sir William Davenant's own house, and was on the stage as 
early as 1664, her name being to be seen in The Stepmother, acted in 
that year. She performed the character of Celia in The Rivals, altered 
by Davenant from the Two Noble Kinsmen of Fletcher and Shake- 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 355 

of singers and dancers in His Majesty's theatre, were all 
dismissed. All these sacrifices were ineffectual : Miss 
Stewart continued to torment, and almost to drive the 
king to distraction ; but His Majesty soon after found out 
the real cause of this coldness. 

This discovery was owing to the officious Duchess of 
Cleveland, who, ever since her disgrace, had railed most 
bitterly against Miss Stewart as the cause of it and 




WBSmth 
MISS DAVIS. 



ag-ainst the king's weakness, who, for an inanimate 
idiot, had treated her with so much indignity. As some 

speare, in 1668; and in singing several wild and mad songs, so charmed 
His Majesty, that she was from that time received into his favor, and had 
by him a daughter, Mary Tudor, born October, 1673 \ married in 
August, 1687, to Francis Ratcliff, Farl of Derwentwater. Burnet says 

doubted as her daughter was born four years after she was first noticed 
iby His Majesty. 



356 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

of her grace's creatures were still in the king's confidence, 
by their means she was informed of the king's uneasi- 
ness, and that Miss Stewart's behavior was the occasion 
of it : and as soon as she had found the opportunity she 
had so long wished for, she went directly into the king's 
cabinet, through the apartment of one of his pages 
called Chiffinch. This way was not new to her. 

The king was just returned from visiting Miss Stewart 
in a very ill humor; the presence of the Duchess of 
Cleveland surprised him, and did not in the least dimin- 
ish it: she, perceiving this, accosted him in an ironical 
tone, and with a smile of indignation: "I hope," said 
she, ' ' I may be allowed to pay you my homage, although 
the angelic Stewart has forbid you to see me at my own 
house. I will not make use of reproaches and expostu- 
lations, which would disgrace myself: still less will I 
endeavor to excuse frailties which nothing can justify, 
since your constancy for me deprives me of all defence, 
considering I am the only person you have honored with 
your tenderness, who has made herself unworthy of it by 
ill conduct. I come now, therefore, with no other intent 
than to comfort and condole with you upon the affliction 
and grief into which the coldness, or new-fashioned 
chastity of the inhuman Stewart have reduced Your 
Majesty." These words were attended by a fit of laugh- 
ter, as unnatural and strained, as it was insulting and 
immoderate, which completed the king's impatience r 
he had, indeed, expected that some bitter jest would fol- 
low this preamble ; but he did not suppose she would 
have given herself such blustering airs, considering the 
terms they were then upon; and as he was preparing to 
answer her: " Be not offended," said she, "that I take 
the liberty of laughing at the gross manner in which you 
are imposed upon: I cannot bear to see that such partic- 
ular affectation should make you the jest of your own 
court, and that you should be ridiculed with such impu- 
nity. I know that the affected Stewart has sent you 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 357 

-away, under pretence of some indisposition, or perhaps 
some scruple of conscience ; and I come to acquaint you 
that the Duke of Richmond will soon be with her, if he 
is not there already. I do not desire you to believe what 
I say, since it might be suggested either through resent- 
ment or envy: only follow me to her apartment, either 
that, no longer trusting calumny and malice, you may 
honor her with a just preference, if I accuse her falsely ; 
or, if my information be true, you may no longer be the 
dupe of a pretended prude, who makes you act so unbe- 
coming and ridiculous a part. ' ' 

As she ended this speech, she took him by the hand, 
-while he was yet undecided, and pulled him away to- 
wards her rival's apartments. Chiffinch* being in her 
interest, Miss Stewart could have no warning of the 
visit ; and Babiani, who owed all to the Duchess of 
Cleveland, and who served her admirably well upon this 
occasion, came and told her that the Duke of Richmond 
Tiad just gone into Miss Stewart's chamber. It was in 
the middle of a little gallery, which, through a private 
'door, led from the king's apartments to those of his 
mistresses. The Duchess of Cleveland wished him good- 



* The name of this person occurs very often in the secret history of 
this reign. Wood, in enumerating the king's supper companions, 
says, they meet " either in the lodgings of Eodovisa, Duchess of Ports- 
mouth, or in those of Cheffing (Chiffinch), near the back stairs, or 

in the apartment of Eleanor Quin (Gwyn), or in that of Baptist May ; 

but he losing his credit Cheffing had the greatest trust among 

them." Athena; Oxon., vol. ii., 1038. So great was the confidence re- 
posed in him, that he was the receiver of the secret pensions paid by 
the court of France to the King of England.— See the Duke of Leeds' 
Letters, 1710, pp. 9, 17, 33. 

Chiffinch's more important duties are intimated in the beginning of 
a satirical poem of the time, entitled, "Sir Edmondbury Godfrey's 
'Ghost." 

It happen'd, in the twilight of the day, 
As England's monarch in his closet lay, 
And Chiffinch stepp'd to fetch the female prey, 
The bloody shape of Godfrey did appear, etc. 



358 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

night, as lie entered her rival's chamber, and retired, in 
order to wait the success of the adventure, of which 
Babiani, who attended the king, was charged to come 
and give her an account. 

It was near midnight : the king, in his way, met his 
mistress's chamber-maids, who respectfully opposed his 
entrance, and in a very low voice whispered His Majesty 
that Miss Stewart had been very ill since he left her : 
but that, being gone to bed, she was, God be thanked,, 
in a very fine sleep. ' ' That I must see, ' ' said the king, 
pushing her back, who had posted herself in his way. 
He found Miss Stewart in bed, indeed, but far from 
being asleep : the Duke of Richmond was seated at her 
pillow, and in all probability was less inclined to sleep 
than herself. The perplexity of the one party, and the 
rage of the other, were such as may easily be imagined 
upon such a surprise. The king, who, of all men, was 
one of the most mild and gentle, testified his resentment 
to the Duke of Richmond in such terms as he had never 
before used. The duke was speechless, and almost pet- 
rified : he saw his master and his king justly irritated. 
The first transports which rage inspires on such occasions 
are dangerous. Miss Stewart's window was very con- 
venient for a sudden revenge, the Thames flowing close 
beneath it : he cast his eyes upon it : and, seeing those 
of the king more incensed and fired with indignation 
than he thought his nature capable of, he made a pro- 
found bow, and retired, without replying a single word 
to the vast torrent of threats and menaces that were 
poured upon him. 

Miss Stewart, having a little recovered from her first 
surprise,* instead of justifying herself, began to talk in 
the most extravagant manner, and said everything that 
was most capable to inflame the king's passion and re- 



* See Bishop Burnet's account of Miss Stewart's marriage in his His- 
tory of his Own Times, vol. i., p. 353. 




iEBBIK &CO 



^^/L^ ^^^J^J^rfJ^CUr 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 359 

sentment ; that, if she were not allowed to receive visits 
from a man of the Duke of Richmond's rank, who came 
with honorable intentions, she was a slave in a free 
country ; that she knew of no engagement that could 
prevent her from disposing of her hand as she thought 
proper ; but, however, if this was not permitted her in 
his dominions, she did not believe that there was any 
power on earth that could hinder her from going over to 
France and throwing herself into a convent, to enjoy 
there that tranquillity which was denied her in his court. 
The king, sometimes furious with anger, sometimes re- 
lenting at her tears, and sometimes terrified at her men- 
aces, was so greatly agitated that he knew not how to 
answer, either the nicety of a creature who wanted to 
act the part of Lucretia under his own eye, or the assur- 
ance with which she had the effrontery to reproach him. 
In this suspense, love had almost entirely vanquished all 
his resentments, and had nearly induced him to throw 
himself upon his knees and entreat pardon for the injury 
he had done her, when she desired him to retire, and 
leave her in repose at least for the remainder of that 
night, without offending those who had either accom- 
panied him, or conducted him to her apartments, by a 
longer visit. This impertinent request provoked and 
irritated him to the highest degree : he went out abruptly, 
vowing never to see her more, and passed the most rest- 
less and uneasy night he had ever experienced since his 
restoration. 

The next day the Duke of Richmond received orders 
to quit the court, and never more to appear before 
the king ; but it seems he had not waited for those 
orders, having set out early that morning for his coun- 
try seat. 

Miss Stewart, in order to obviate all injurious con- 
structions that might be put upon the adventure of the 
preceding night, went and threw herself at the queen's 



360 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

feet ; where, acting the new part of an innocent Magda- 
len, she entreated Her Majesty's forgiveness for all the 
sorrow and uneasiness she might have already occasioned 
her. She told Her Majesty that a constant and sincere 
repentance had induced her to contrive all possible 
means for retiring from court : that this reason had in- 
clined her to receive the Duke of Richmond's addresses, 
who had courted her a long time ; but since this court- 
ship had caused his disgrace, and had likewise raised a 
vast noise and disturbance, which perhaps might be 
turned to the prejudice of her reputation, she conjured 
Her Majesty to take her under her protection, and en- 
deavor to obtain the king's permission for her to retire 
into a convent, to remove at once all those vexations 
and troubles her presence had innocently occasioned at 
court. All this was accompanied with a proper deluge 
of tears. 

It is a very agreeable spectacle to see a rival prostrate 
at our feet, entreating pardon, and at the same time 
justifying her conduct. The queen's heart not only re- 
lented, but she mingled her own tears with those of Miss 
Stewart. After having raised her up, and most tenderly 
embraced her, she promised her all manner of favor and 
protection, either in her marriage or in any other course 
she thought fit to pursue, and parted from her with the 
firm resolution to exert all her interest in her support : 
but, being a person of great judgment, the reflections 
which she afterwards made induced her to change her 
opinion. 

She knew that the king's disposition was not capable 
of an obstinate constancy. She therefore judged that 
absence would cure him, or that a new engagement 
would by degrees entirely efface the remembrance of 
Miss Stewart; and that, since she could not avoid having 
a rival, it was more desirable she should be one who had 
given such eminent proofs of her prudence and virtue. 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 361 

Besides, she flattered herself that the king would ever 
think himself eternally obliged to her, for having op- 
posed the retreat and marriage of a girl whom at that 
time he loved to distraction. This fine reasoning deter- 
mined her conduct. All her industry was employed in 
persuading Miss Stewart to abandon her schemes ; and 
what is most extraordinary in this adventure, is, that, 
after having prevailed upon her to think no more 
either of the Duke of Richmond, or of a nunnery, she 
charged herself with the office of reconciling these two 
lovers. 

Indeed it would have been a thousand pities if her 
negotiation had miscarried ; but she did not suffer this 
misfortune ; for never were the king's addresses so eager 
and passionate as after this peace, nor ever better received 
~by the fair Stewart. 

His Majesty did not long enjoy the sweets of a recon- 
ciliation, which brought him into the best good humor 
possible, as we shall see. All Europe was in a pro- 
found peace since the treaty of the Pyrenees : Spain 
flattered herself she should be able to recruit, by means 
of the new alliance she had contracted with the most 
formidable of her neighbors ; but despaired of being 
able to support the shattered remains of a declining 
monarchy, when she considered the age and infirmi- 
ties of her prince, or the weakness of his successor : 
France, on the contrary, governed by a king inde- 
fatigable in business, young, vigilant, and ambitious 
of glory, wanted nothing bat inclination to aggrandize 
herself. 

It was about this time that the king of France, not 
willing to disturb the tranquillity of Europe, was per- 
suaded to alarm the coasts of Africa by an attempt, 
which, if it had even been crowned with success, would 
have produced little good ; but the king's fortune, ever 
faithful to his glory, has since made it appear, by the 



362 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

miscarriage of trie expedition of Gigeri,* that such pro- 
jects only as were planned by himself were worthy of 
his attention. 

A short time after, the king of England, having re- 
solved also to explore the African coasts, fitted out a 
squadron for an expedition to Guinea, which was to be 
commanded by Prince Rupert. Those who, from their 
own experience, had some knowledge of the country, 
related strange and wonderful stories of the dangers 
attendant upon this expedition : that they would 
have to fight not only the inhabitants of Guinea, a 
hellish people, whose arrows were poisoned, and who 
never gave their prisoners better quarter than to de- 
vour them, but that they must likewise endure heats 
that were insupportable, and rains that were intolera- 
ble, every drop of which was changed into a serpent : 
that, if they penetrated farther into the country, they 
would be assaulted by monsters a thousand times more 
hideous and destructive than all the beasts mentioned 
in the Revelations. 

But all these reports were vain and ineffectual : for so 
far from striking terror into those who were appointed 
to go upon this expedition, it rather acted as an incentive 
to glory, upon those who had no manner of business in 
it. Jermyn appeared among the foremost of these ; and, 
without reflecting that the pretence of his indisposition 
had delayed the conclusion of his marriage with Miss 



* Gigeri is about forty leagues from Algiers. Till the year 1664 the 
French had a factory there ; but then attempting to build a fort on the 
sea-coast, to be a check upon the Arabs, they came down from the 
mountains, beat the French out of Gigeri, and demolished their fort. 
Sir Richard Fanshaw, in a letter to the deputy governor of Tangier, 
dated 2d December, 1664, N. S., says: "We have certain intelligence 
that the French have lost Gigheria, with all they had there, and their 
fleet come back, with the loss of one considerable ship upon the rocks 
near Marseilles." — Fanshaw's Letters, vol. i., p. 347. 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 363 

Jennings, he asked the duke's permission, and the king's 
consent to serve in it as a volunteer. 

Some time before this, the infatuation which had im- 
posed upon the fair Jennings in his favor had begun to 
subside. All that now inclined her to this match were 
the advantages of a settlement. The careless indolence 
of a lover, who faintly paid his addresses to her, as it were 
from custom or habit, disgusted her ; and the resolution 
he had taken, without consulting her, appeared so ridicu- 
lous in him, and so injurious to herself, that, from that 
moment, she resolved to think no more of him. Her 
eyes being opened by degrees, she saw the fallacy of the 
splendor, which had at first deceived her ; and the re- 
nowned Jermyn was received according to his real merit 
when he came to acquaint her with his heroical project. 
There appeared so much indifference and ease in the 
raillery with which she complimented him upon his 
voyage, that he was entirely disconcerted, and so much 
the more so, as he had prepared all the arguments he 
thought capable of consoling her, upon announcing to 
her the fatal news of his departure. She told him, 
" that nothing could be more glorious for him, who had 
triumphed over the liberty of so many persons in Europe, 
than to go and extend his conquests in other parts of the 
world ; and that she advised him to bring home with 
him all the female captives he might make in Africa, in 
order to replace those beauties whom his absence would 
bring to the grave. ' ' 

Jermyn was highly displeased that she should be 
capable of raillery in the condition he supposed her re- 
duced to ; but he soon perceived she was in earnest : she 
told him, that she considered this farewell visit as his 
last, and desired him not to think of making her any 
more before his departure. 

Thus far everything went well on her side : Jermyn 
was not only confounded at having received his discharge 



364 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

in so cavalier a manner ; but this very demonstration of 
her indifference had revived, and even redoubled, all the 
love and affection he had formerly felt for her. Thus 
she had both the pleasure of despising him, and of see- 
ing him more entangled in the chains of love than he 
had ever been before. This was not sufficient : she 
wished still farther, and very unadvisedly, to strain her 
resentment. 

Ovid's Epistles,* translated into English verse by the 
greatest wits at court, having lately been published, she 
wrote a letter from a shepherdess in despair, addressed to 
the perfidious Jermyn. She took the epistle of Ariadne 
to Theseus for her model. The beginning of this letter 
contained, word for word, the complaints and reproaches 
of that injured fair to the cruel man by whom she had 
been abandoned. All this was properly adapted to the 
present times and circumstances. It was her design to 
have closed this piece with a description of the toils, 
perils, and monsters, that awaited him in Guinea, for 
which he quitted a tender mistress, who was plunged 
into the abyss of misery, and was overwhelmed with 
grief and despair ; but not having had time to finish it, 
nor to get that which she had written transcribed, in 
order to send it to him under a feigned name, she in- 
considerately put this fragment, written in her own 
hand, into her pocket, and, still more giddily, dropped 
it in the middle of the court. Those who took it up, 
knowing her writing, made several copies of it, which 
were circulated all over the town ; but her former con- 
duct had so well established the reputation of her virtue, 
that no person entertained the smallest doubt but the 
circumstances were exactly as we have related them. 
Some time after, the Guinea expedition was laid aside 

*This is the translation of Ovid's Epistles published by Mr. Dry den. 
The second edition of it was printed in 1681. 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 365 

for reasons that are universally known, and Miss Jen- 
nings' subsequent proceedings fully justified her letter ; 
for, notwithstanding all the efforts and attentions Jermyn 
practised to regain her affections, she would never more 
hear of him. 

But he was not the only man who experienced the 
whimsical fatality, that seemed to delight in disuniting 
hearts, in order to engage them soon after to different 
objects. One would have imagined that the God of 
Love, actuated by some new caprice, had placed his 
empire under the dominion of Hymen, and had, at the 
same time, blind-folded that god, in order to cross- 
match most of the lovers whom we have been speak- 
ing of. 

The fair Stewart married the Duke of Richmond ; the 
invincible Jermyn, a silly country girl ;* Lord Roches- 
ter, a melancholy heiress ;f the sprightly Temple, the 
serious Lyttleton ; Talbot, without knowing why or 
wherefore, took to wife the languishing Boynton ;| 
George Hamilton, under more favorable auspices, mar- 
ried the lovely Jennings ; and the Chevalier de Gram- 
mont, as the reward of a constancy he had never before 
known, and which he never afterwards practised, found 
Hymen and Love united in his favor, and was at last 
blessed with the possession of Miss Hamilton. § 



* Miss Gibbs, daughter of a gentleman in the county of Cambridge. 

t Elizabeth, daughter of John Mallet, of Enmere, in the county of 
Somerset. 

X After the deaths of Miss Boynton and of George Hamilton, Talbot 
married Miss Jennings, and became afterwards Duke of Tyrconnel. 

\ "The famous Count Grammont was thought to be the original of 
The Forced Marriage. This nobleman, during his stay at the court of 
England, had made love to Miss Hamilton, but was coming away for 
France without bringing matters to a proper conclusion. The young 
lady's brothers pursued him, and came up with him near Dover, in order 
to exchange some pistol-shot with him : They called out, ' Count Gram- 
mont, have you forgot nothing at London ? ' ' Excuse me, ' answered the 



366 MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 

Count, guessing their errand, ' I forgot to marry your sister ; so lead 
on, and let us finish that affair.' By the pleasantry of the answer, this 
was the same Grammont who commanded at the siege of a place, the 
governor of which capitulated after a short defence, and obtained an 
easy capitulation. The governor then said to Monsieur Grammont 
' I'll tell you a secret — that the reason of my capitulation was, because 
I was in want of powder.' Monsieur replied, 'And secret for secret — 
the reason of my granting you such an easy capitulation was, because I 
was in want of ball.' " — Biog. Gallica, vol. i., p. 202. 

Count Grammont and his lady left England in 1669. King Charles 
in a letter to his sister, the Duchess of Orleans, dated 24th October, in 
that year, says, "I writt to you yesterday, by the Compte de Gram- 
mont, but I believe this letter will come sooner to your handes ; for he 
goes by the way of Diep, with his wife and family : and now that I 
have named her, I cannot chuse but againe desire you to be kinde to 
her ; for, besides the merrit her family has on both sides, she is as 
good a creature as ever lived. I beleeve she will pass for a handsome 
woman in France, though she has not yett, since her lying-inn, re- 
covered that good shape she had before, and I am affraide never will. ' ' 
— Dalrymple's Memoirs, vol. ii., p. 26. 

"The Count de Grammont fell dangerously ill in the year 1696 ; of 
which the king (L,ouis XIV.) being informed, and knowing, besides, 
that he was inclined to libertinism, he was pleased to send the Marquis 
of Dangeau to see how he did, and to advise him to think of God. 
Hereupon Count de Grammont, turning towards his wife, who had ever 
been a very devout lady, told her, Countess, if you don't look to it, Dan- 
geau will juggle you out of my conversion. Madame de l'Enclos having 
afterwards written to M. de St. Evremond that Count de Grammont was 
recovered, and turned devout, — I have learned, answered he to her, with 
a great deal of pleasure, that Count de Grammont has recovered his 
former health, and acquired a new devotion. Hitherto I have been con- 
tented with being a plain honest man ; but I must do something more ; 
and I only wait for your example to become a devotee. You live in a 
country where people have wonderful advantages of saving their souls : 
there vice is almost as opposite to the mode as to virtue ; sinning passes 
for ill-breeding, and shocks decency and good manners, as much as re- 
ligion. Formerly it was enough to be wicked ; now one must be a scoun- 
drel withal, to be damned in France. They who have not regard enough 
for another life, are led to salvation by the consideration and duties of 
this." — " But there is enough upon a subject in which the conversion of 
the Count de Grammont has engaged me : I believe it to be sincere and 
honest. It well becomes a man who is not young, to forget he has been 
so." — Life of St. Evremond, by Des Marzeaux, p. 136 ; and St. Evre- 
mond 's Works, vol. ii., 431. 

It appears that a report had been spread that our hero was dead. 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 



367 



St. Evremond, iu a letter to De l'Enclos, says, "they talk here as if the 
Count de Grammont was dead, which touches me with a very sensible 
grief." — St Evremond' 's Works, vol. iii., p. 39. And the same lady, in 
her answer, says, " Madame de Coulanges has undertaken to make your 
compliments to the Count de Grammont, by the Countess de Gram- 
mont. He is so young, that I think him as light as when he hated sick 
people, and loved them after they had recovered their health." — Ibid., 

P- 59- 

At length Count de Grammont, after a long life, died, the 10th 
January, 1707, at the age of 86 years. 

See a letter from St. Evremond to Count de Grammont on the death 
of his brother, Count de Toulongeon. — St Evremond' s Works, vol. ii., 
p. 327- 




I,UCY BARLOW (WATERS). 



APPENDIX 

TO THE MEMOIRS OF COUNT GRAMMONT. 



Any reader who has for the first time pursued these 
Memoirs to the end will be disappointed at their abrupt 
conclusion. 

This defect we have sought to remedy by adding three 
portraits and their biographies from Mrs. Jameson's 
Beauties of the Court of Charles II. : Mrs. Lawson, 
one of the mistresses of Charles II. ; Lady Beldasys, 
one of the mistresses of the Duke of York, and the 
Duchess of Portsmouth, the last mistress of 
Charles. The biography of this last beauty brings 
the life of Charles to a close and graphically de- 
scribes the disgraceful condition into which he had 
betrayed England into dependence on France, so that 
he might obtain money to squander in extravagance, 
and maintain his extensive harem and "interminable 
brood" of royal bastards. 

(368) 




oMa^riyeJ II 




MRS. LAWSON. 

" Condamnee a. la eelebrite sans pouvoir etre connue." 

— De Stael. 

By this title the portrait in the Beauty-room at Wind- 
sor has always been traditionally known ; but, according 
to the present style, Mrs. Lawson should properly be 
Miss Lawson, as the lady here represented was certainly 
unmarried. * 

The Mrs. L,awson of the Windsor Gallery must have 
been one of the five daughters of Sir John Lawson, a 
Roman Catholic Baronet, of Brough, in Yorkshire. He 
married Catherine Howard, a daughter of the Earl of 
Carlisle, whose younger brother, Thomas Howard, be- 
came the second husband of Mary Villiers, Duchess of 
Richmond, and sister of the Duke of Buckingham. 
Thus, a woman of high rank and intriguing spirit, con- 
nected, by her first marriage, with the blood royal, and 



* In the reign of Charles II., and long afterwards, Mrs. or Mistress 
was the usual appellation of a young unmarried woman. Married 
women were entitled Madam. The word Miss was seldom used but in 
a very disreputable sense. 

24 (369) 



370 APPENDIX. 

the sister of the reigning favorite, became the aunt of 
the five Miss L,awsons. 

There is reason to believe, from various scattered 
notices, that this Duchess of Richmond introduced one 
of her nieces at court, with a view of captivating the 
easy affections of Charles, and counteracting, through 
her influence, the ascendancy of the Duchess of Ports- 
mouth. One part of this plan appears to have succeeded, 
for Miss Lawson became the object of the king's admira- 
tion, whose attentions to her were so public that they 
are frequently alluded to, and the Portsmouth faction 
was thrown into some consternation. 

But it also appears that on this occasion Charles met 
with very unusual resistance, and that Miss Lawson was 
not easily won — if, indeed, she was won at all, of which 
there is no existing proof. There is a coarse political 
satire of that time (about 1674) quoted by Sir William 
Musgrave, in which all the celebrated beauties of the 
court are represented as contending for the post of 
' ' Maitresse en titre. ' ' Miss Lawson is mentioned among 
the rest, but she is rejected, by reason of her ' ' too great 
modesty." There are other contemporary songs, epi- 
grams, satires, worthless in themselves, where Miss 
Lawson's name occurs. She is never alluded to but as 
one hitherto innocent, and exposed to danger from the 
intrigues of her aunt, and the profligate pursuit of the 
king. The following passage will serve as a specimen : 

" Yet Lawson, thou whose arbitrary sway, 
Our King must, more than we do him, obey, 
Who shortly shall of easy Charles's breast 
And of his empire be at once possest ; 
Though it indeed appear a glorious thing 
To command power and to enslave a King, 
Yet ere the false appearance has betray'd 
A soft, believing, unexperienced maid, 
Ah ! yet consider ere it be too late, 
How near you stand upon the brink of fate. ' ' * 

* Musgrave' s Biographical Adversaria, M. S. No. 5723, British Mu- 
seum. 



APPENDIX. 



371 



Sir William Musgrave adds, " that the five sisters be- 
came nuns at York," and this is all that can be dis- 
covered concerning the original of this portrait. If we 
may believe in the existence of innocence, which even 
slander appears to have respected, and satire itself to 
have compassionated ; and if we can suppose it possible 
that such innocence could be maintained in a corrupt 
court, surrounded not only by temptations, but by the 
most villainous snares, we ought to deem Miss Lawson 
acquitted, notwithstanding the evil society in which she 
appears. 




EARL OF CHESTERFIELD. 




SUSAN ARMINE; 

LADY BELLASYS. 

"Bonne et beixe assez." 

Motto of the Belasyse family. 

This picture, which is the most striking and splendid 
of the whole series known as the Windsor Beauties, is, 
unhappily, one of the disputed portraits. At Windsor it 
is traditionally known as Elinor Lady Byron ; * but, on 
the authority of Horace Walpole, Granger, and Sir 



* Elinor Needham, daughter of Lord Kilmurrey, married at eleven 
years old to Peter Warburton, Esq., who died before she was fifteen, 
and after his death the wife of the first Lord Byron, is described in Sir 
Peter Leycester's Antiquities of Chester, as "a person of such comely 
carriage and presence, handsomeness, sweet disposition, honor, and 
general respect in the world, that she hath scarce left her equal be- 
hind." But Sir Peter was personally the friend of the lady, and con- 
nected with her family, and his testimony is rather incorrect and par- 
tial. The fact is, that this Lady Byron became, after the death of her 
husband, the mistress of Charles II. during his exile ; and, avarice 
being her ruling passion, she contrived to extort from him, even in 
the midst of his distresses, upwards of 15,000/. in money and jewels, 
etc. She was dismissed for the sake of Lady Castlemaine, before the 
king's return, and died at Chester, within two years after the Restora- 
tion. It is not very probable that the portrait of this lady should find 
its way into the gallery of Court Beauties of the time of Charles II. It 
(372) 



APPENDIX. 373 

William Musgrave, all three well versed in the biog- 
raphy of our peerage, as well as in pictorial and domestic 
antiquities, it is generally supposed to represent Susan 
Armine, ' ' the widow of Sir Henry Bellasys, and mis- 
tress of the Duke of York." * 

Methinks if this magnificent-looking creature could 
speak, she would certainly exclaim against this last dis- 
reputable and unmerited title, or insist that it should be 
understood with a reservation in her favor : — but since 
those lips, though stained with no " Stygian hue," are 
silenced by death, and can only look their scorn, we must 
plead, in defence of Lady Bellasys, that if the circum- 
stances of her life gave some color to the slander which 
has been unadvisedly stamped on her fair, open brow, 
she estimated, as a woman ought to estimate, her own 
and her sex's honor. 

Susan Armine was the daughter of Sir William 
Armine, of Osgodby, in Lincolnshire. Her mother, 
Mary Talbot, was a niece of the Earl of Shrewsbury, 
and a lady distinguished in her time for her various 
learning, as well as for her gentle and feminine virtues 
-and extensive charities, f It appears that Susan Armine 



may be added, that the picture has been attributed by some to Vandyke, 
by others to Lely, by others to Huysman. If Lady Byron sat to Van- 
dyke, it must have been in her childhood : if to Lely or to Huysman, 
it must have been abroad, or after the Restoration, both circumstances 
equally improbable. Among the family pictures at Tabley (the seat 
of the Leycesters) there is a very fine full-length portrait, nearly re- 
sembling this at Windsor : it is there entitled Lady. Byron, and attrib- 
uted to Lely. On the whole it is quite impossible to reconcile the 
very contradictory evidence relative to the person and the picture, but 
by attributing the portrait at once to Lady Bellasys, on the most prob- 
able grounds and the most credible testimony. 

* Horace Walpole ; Anecdotes of Painting, Granger's Biographical 
History of .England, and Musgrave's MS. notes to Granger, British 
Museum. 

t Lady Armine died in 1674. It is said that she founded three hos- 
pitals for the sick and the poor, one of which (at Burton Grange, in 
Yorkshire) still exists. 



374 APPENDIX. 

was their only child and heiress, and that she was mar- 
ried very young, according to the fashion of those times, 
to Henry Bellasys, the son and heir of Lord Bellasys, 
and nephew of Lord Fauconberg.* Lord Bellasys, who 
had greatly signalized himself in the royal cause, be- 
came, after the Restoration, the friend and favorite of 
the Duke of York ; and his son Henry was created a 
knight of the Bath, in recompense for his own gallantry 
and his father's loyalty. 

From the few particulars which have been preserved 
relating to Sir Henry Bellasys, we may pronounce him 
to have been eminently brave and generous, but of a 
rash and fiery disposition. His headlong impetuosity 
first involved him in a luckless mistake, which led to 
the murder of an innocent man,f and afterwards occa- 
sioned his own death, in the prime of life, and within a 
few years after his marriage. The circumstances, which 
form, perhaps, the severest satire against duelling that 
ever was penned, and might well excite a smile but for 
the tragical result, are thus related. — Sir Henry, after a 
late revel, was conversing apart with his dear and sworn 
friend Tom Porter, then Groom of the Chamber to the 
king. As they spoke with animation, and rather loud, 
some one standing by asked if they were quarrelling ? 
"Quarrelling!" exclaimed Sir Henry, turning round, 
' ' No ! — I would have you to know that I never quarrel 
but I strike ! " " How ! " said Porter, "strike ! I would 
I could see the man that dare give me a blow ! ' ' Sir 
Henry, flushed with recent intemperance, and only sen- 
sible to the defiance implied in these words, instantly 
struck him. They drew, of course, but were immedi- 
ately separated by their friends. Porter left the house, 
and, meeting Dryden, told him, in a wild manner, what 

* In the reign of Charles II. the name was spelt indifferently Bel- 
lasses and Bellasys, but more recently Belasyse. The title of Faucon- 
berg became extinct within the last few years. 

fSee Pepys, vol. i., p. 133. 



APPENDIX. 375 

had just passed, and that he must fight Sir Henry Bel- 
lasys presently, for, if he waited till the morrow, he 
' ' knew they would be friends again, and the disgrace of 
the blow would rest upon him." He borrowed Dryden's 
servant, whom he ordered to watch for Sir Henry, and 
give him notice which way he went. He then followed 
his carriage, stopped it in Covent Garden, and called on 
his friend to alight. They drew their swords, and 
fought on the spot, some of their acquaintance and 
others looking on, till Sir Henry Bellasys, finding him- 
self severely wounded, staggered, and had nearly fallen, 
but, sustaining himself by an effort, he called to Tom 
Porter, and desired him to fly. " Tom," said he affec- 
tionately, " thou hast hurt me ; but I will make a shift 
to stand on my legs till thou mayst withdraw, for I 
would not have thee troubled for what thou hast done ! ' ' 
He then kissed and embraced him : but Porter, unable 
to speak, could only show him that he too was wounded 
and bleeding. In this state they were carried home. 
Sir Henry Bellasys died of his wounds within four days 
after the encounter ; and thus, in consequence of a foolish 
and drunken outrage, perished a young man of high 
hopes, noble birth, generous feeling, and approved gal- 
lantry, by the hand of the man he most loved, and for 
whom he would willingly have shed his blood. This 
extraordinary duel, which even then excited more ridi- 
cule than sympathy,* occurred in 1667. 

Of Lady Bellasys, married so young, and so early left 
a widow, we do not hear at this time. She was the 
mother of one son, an infant ; and it appears that she 
lived in retirement for some years after the death of her 
husband. It was about the year 1670 that she was first 
distinguished at court, not so much for her beauty, as 
for her wit, her vivacity, her high spirit and uncommon 



* " It is pretty to hear how all the world doth talk of them, and call 
them a couple of fools, who killed each other for pure love." — Pepys. 



376 APPENDIX. 

powers of mind. These qualities fascinated the Duke 
of York. It was said of him, that he was as indifferent 
to beauty as Charles was to virtue and intellect in 
women. Some of the ladies whom the duke most 
admired were so homely, that the king used to aver, 
that the priests had inflicted his brother's mistresses on 
him by way of penance. It is, however, certain that 
those women whom the duke selected as the peculiar 
objects of his homage, do rather more honor to his taste 
than the favorites of Charles do to his : Lady Denham, 
Arabella Churchill, Miss Sedley, Lady Bellasys, to say 
nothing of Miss Hamilton and Miss Jennings, whom he 
also passionately admired, and vainly pursued, are proofs 
that something like education and refinement were 
necessary to attract his attention, and something like 
wit and understanding to keep him awake. Lady Bel- 
lasys, who had virtue and spirit, as well as wit and 
bright eyes, gained a strong influence over his mind 
without compromising her own honor ; and after the 
death of the first Duchess of York, in 1672, he actually 
placed in her hands a written contract of marriage, only 
requiring secrecy, at least for a time. This affair coming 
to the knowledge of the king, some months afterwards, 
he sent for his brother, and rebuked him very severely, 
telling him that, ' 'At his age it was intolerable that he 
should think to play the fool over again ; ' ' alluding to 
his former marriage with Anne Hyde. But neither the 
threats of the king, nor the arguments and persuasions 
of Lord Bellasys, her father-in-law, who thought himself 
obliged, in honor and duty, to interfere, could, for a long 
time, induce Lady Bellasys to give up this contract of 
marriage, and brand herself with dishonor. She yielded, 
at length, when the safety and welfare of the duke and 
the peace of the nation were urged as depending on her 
compliance ; but even then, only on condition that she 
should be allowed to keep an attested copy in her own 
possession; to which they were obliged, though most 



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appendix. 377 

reluctantly, to consent. In return for this concession, 
Lady Bellasys was created, in 1674, a peeress for life, by 
the title of Baroness Bellasys of Osgodby, having suc- 
ceeded, on the death of her father and mother, to the 
family estates. 

It is said that the Duke of York, who seems to have 
loved Lady Bellasys as well as he could love any thing, 
made many attempts to convert her to his own religion, 
but in vain. It was even supposed that there was some 
danger of the lady converting her royal lover ; a suspicion 
which raised a strong party against her among the 
duke's Roman Catholic dependants, and led to much of 
the slander from which her name and fame have suf- 
fered. 

About ten years after these events, Lady Bellasys 
married a gentleman of fortune, whose name was Fortrey, 
of whom we know nothing, but that she survived him. 
Her son, Henry Bellasys, succeeded, in 1684, to the title 
and estates of his grandfather, as Lord Bellasys of Worl- 
aby, and died about the year 1690 ; he married Anne 
Brudenell, a beautiful woman and sister of the celebrated 
Countess of Newburgh, Lord Lansdown's Mira. She 
afterwards married Charles Lennox, Duke of Richmond, 
son of the Duchess of Portsmouth, and from her the 
present duke is descended. 

It is to be inferred from a letter of Swift to Mrs. Ding- 
ley (or rather to Stella) that Lady Bellasys appeared 
again at court in the reign of Queen Anne, and from this 
daughter of her former lover she received every mark of 
distinction and respect. She died on the 6th of Jan- 
uary, 1713, bequeathing her rich inheritance among her 
nearest kinsmen : Lord Berkeley, of Stratton, was ap- 
pointed the executor of her will, with a legacy of ten 
thousand pounds. 

Horace Walpole, in allusion to this portrait, thinks it 
probable that Charles, by admitting Lady Bellasys into 
the gallery at Windsor, meant to insinuate the superi- 



378 APPENDIX. 

ority of his own taste over that of his brother ; if so, he 
• has not assuredly taken the best means of proving it, 
since every other face, however regular and beautiful, 
appears insipid when placed in contrast with this noble 
creature — Miss Hamilton's, perhaps, alone excepted. 

L,ady Bellasys is here represented as Saint Catherine. 
Her left hand rests on the wheel and supports the palm 
branch ; her right hand is pressed to her bosom. The 
drapery, which is dark blue and crimson, falls round her 
in grand and ample folds, and is colored with exceeding 
richness. In the background two cherubs are descend- 
ing to crown her with myrtle, and she turns her large, 
dark eyes towards them with an expression of rapturous 
devotion. Her jet black hair falling from beneath a 
coronet of gems, flows in ringlets upon her neck ; and 
this peculiarity, as well as the uncovered amplitude of 
the bosom and shoulders, seems to refer the portrait to 
the time of Charles II. On a critical examination of 
the features, we are obliged to allow the absence of 
beauty ; the contour of the face is not perfect, and the 
nose and mouth are rather irregular in form, but then, 
as a certain French cardinal said of his mistress, " c" est 
au moins, la plus belle irregularite du monde ; ' ' and the 
eyes and brow are splendid. They have all the life and 
vivacity which Burnet attributes to this intractable lady, 
as he styles her. * There is so much of poetry and feeling 
in the composition of this picture ; so much of intellectual 
grandeur in the turn of the head ; such a freedom and 
spirit in the mechanical execution, and such a rich tone 
of color pervading the whole, that the portrait might 
be assigned at once to Vandyke, if other circumstances 
did not render it improbable. It bears no traces of the 
style of Sir Peter My, and I am inclined to agree with 
• Horace Walpole, who attributes it decidedly to Huys- 
man. Huysman was the pupil of Vandyke, and he may 

* See Burnet, History of his Own Times, vol. i., p. 393. 



APPENDIX. 



379 



have painted this picture in the early period of his resi- 
dence in England, and before he quitted the powerful 
and spirited style of his former master to imitate the 
effeminate graces of Lely. There is at Gorhambury, in 
the possession of Lord Verulam, a portrait of Queen 
Catherine, indisputably by Huysman; so nearly resem- 
bling this picture in the composition and style of execu- 
tion that it adds strength to this persuasion ; but I am 
far from presuming to decide where abler judges cannot 
agree. 




JOHN, EARX OF ROCHESTER. 




THE DUCHESS OF PORTSMOUTH 



BY MRS. JAMESON. 

"Her birth, her beauty, crowds and courts confess, 
Chaste matrons praise her, and grave bishops bless ; 
In golden chains the willing world she draws, 
And hers the gospel is — and hers the laws ; 
Mounts the tribunal, lifts her scarlet head, 
And sees pale Virtue carted in her stead ! 
L,o ! at the wheels of her triumphant car 
Old England's genius, rough with many a scar, 
Dragg'd in the dust ! " — Pope. 

This is a name disgracefully celebrated, but only a 
small portion of that disgrace can justly rest upon her 
who bore it. The period of her reign, for so it may be 
called, is historically infamous, but the least part of that 
infamy rests upon the woman herself. If we could tear 
from the chronicles of our country that leaf which bears 
the name of Louise de Queroualle, it were well; but since 
this cannot be, we ought not to close our eyes to its im- 
port, for it conveys a deep lesson. It is impossible to 
study history without admitting that the political influ- 
ence of women has been great in all ages ; it has been 
modified by the difference of manner and the degree of 

(380) 



APPENDIX. 381 

intelligence — it has been more or less ostensible, more or 
less mischievous — but at all times it has been great, 
and it increases with the progress of civilization and the 
diffusion of knowledge. It is not in these days that we 
are to listen to common-places out of the ' ' Spectator ' ' 
and the "Ecole des Femmes." Let it be granted, that 
"women are formed for private life alone ; " but in that 
privacy, in our nurseries and boudoirs, are inculcated 
and directed the principles and opinions of those men 
who are to legislate for the happiness and welfare of na- 
tions. This species of indirect influence increases with 
the spread of civilization and intelligence : it cannot be 
denied — it cannot be suppressed : — is not the next alter- 
native to render it beneficial to society ? If a woman 
could once be taught to feel, to appreciate the grand 
stake she has in the political institutions of her country, 
and to understand the interests of humanity at large, she 
would no longer mix up with these considerations the 
petty passions, errors and prejudices, and personal feel- 
ings which have rendered at all times the political inter- 
ference and influence of the sex a fertile source of evil, 
and a never-failing topic of reproach and regret ; for evil 
has been almost constantly the result. The gallantry 
of men and the vanity of women may here suggest in- 
stances of the contrary; but for one Volumnia how many 
Cleopatras ? for one Agnes Sorel how many Pompadours 
and Portsmouths ? One thing, however, is certain, that, 
thanks to the progressive diffusion of freedom and knowl- 
edge, we are not likely to behold again in civilized 
Europe the common decencies of life braved by the in- 
solent triumph of a " maitresse en titre : ' ' nor ' ' sin in 
state, majestically drunk," trampling over the destinies 
of great nations and the interests of millions of men. A 
Maintenon will never more half depopulate France, nor 
a Portsmouth bargain with a foreign despot for the sale 
of English liberty. 

Louise Renee de Penencovet de Queroualle, of a noble 



382 APPENDIX,, 

but impoverished family in Brittany, was appointed 
maid of honor to the Duchess of Orleans, sister of Charles 
II. and James II., in the year 1669 ; she was not more 
than nineteen, when, by the interest of some relations in 
power, she was taken from the convent to which the 
poverty of her house had at first consigned her, appar- 
ently for life, and at once introduced to all the pleasures 
and temptations of a magnificent and dissipated court ; 
her introduction took place at a critical moment, and in 
deciding her future fate has made her destiny and char- 
acter matter of history. 

The conquest or the ruin of Holland had long been 
one of the favorite projects of Louis XIV. The Dutch, 
however, resisted his overgrown power, as their ances- 
tors had formerly defied that of Philip II. of Spain. In 
order to carry his plans into execution, Louis found it 
necessary to detach England from the interests of Hol- 
land. This was matter of some difficulty, for an alliance 
with France against Holland was so odious to all parties 
m England, so contrary to the national prejudices and 
interests, that, though Louis did not despair of cajoling 
or bribing Charles into such a treaty, the utmost caution 
and secrecy were necessary in conducting it. 

The only person who was at first trusted with this 
negotiation was Henrietta, Duchess of Orleans, the sister 
of Charles, and sister-in-law of Louis, fatally celebrated 
in French history as Madame d'Angleterre. She was 
at this time about five-and-twenty, a singular mixture 
of discretion, or rather dissimulation, with rashness and 
petulance ; of exceeding haughtiness, with a winning 
sweetness of manner and disposition, which gained all 
hearts. She had inherited some of the noble qualities 
of her grandfather Henri Quatre, and all the graces and 
intriguing spirit of her mother Henrietta Maria. Early 
banished from England by the misfortunes of her family, 
she regarded the country of her birth with indifference, 
if not abhorrence. A French woman in education, 



APPENDIX. 383 

manners, mind and heart, she was an English woman 
only in the peculiar style of her beauty, uniting the 
utmost majesty of form with a profusion of light hair, 
eyes as blue and bright as those of Pallas, and a com- 
plexion " petri de lis et de roses." On her husband, the 
worthless, stupid, profligate Duke of Orleans, her wit 
and charms were equally thrown away. Louis was well 
aware of her unbounded power over the mind of Charles 
II. , whose affection for her was said to exceed that of a 
brother for a sister : he had never been known to refuse 
her anything she had asked for herself or others, and 
Louis trusted that her fascinations would gain from the 
King of England what reason and principle and patri- 
otism would have denied. 

To cover the interview between the brother and sister 
with some kind of pretext which should give it the ap- 
pearance of an accidental or friendly meeting, Louis 
undertook a progress to his new Flemish provinces ; and 
until Catherine of Russia astonished Europe by her 
pompous triumphal voyage down the Bosphorus, noth- 
ing had equalled in lavish and luxurious ostentation 
this famous journey. An army of thirty thousand men 
preceded and followed the royal party : in one spacious 
and superb equipage, all glass and gilding, travelled 
the king, the queen, Henrietta, and Madame de Montes- 
pan ; then followed their respective retinues ; then the 
princesses ; the dauphin and his court, Mademoiselle 
de Montpensier (la grande Mademoiselle) and her court. 
This was just before the fatal affair of her marriage with 
Lauzun, who on this occasion rode at the head of the 
royal guards. It was a perpetual series of fetes, ban- 
quets, and triumphs ; the apparent honors were princi- 
pally for Madame de Montespan ; the real object of this 
splendid journey was known only to Henrietta of Or- 
leans, who enjoyed in secret her own importance, which 
gave a new zest to the pleasures with which she was 
surrounded. When arrived at Dunkirk, she embarked 



384 APPENDIX. 

for England, with a small but chosen retinue, and met 
her brother at Dover, where this celebrated conference 
took place. The event showed that L,ouis had not 
reckoned too much on her power ; she gained from the 
facile and unprincipled Charles all that she asked, and 
the shameful treaty which rendered the King of England 
the pensioned tool of France, was arranged at Dover in 
the beginning of June, 1670.* 

Henrietta brought in her train Mademoiselle de 
Queroualle, and during her short stay, the exceeding 
beauty and almost childish graces of this young girl 
captivated Charles, who was observed to pay her much 
attention ; she, however, returned to Versailles with her 
royal mistress, and there, within a few days afterwards, 
witnessed her dreadful death. Voltaire doubts, or affects 
to doubt, that Henrietta was poisoned, because of the 
odium which such a suspicion must have thrown on the 
father of his patron, the Regent-Duke of Orleans ; but 
the recent publication of some private memoirs of that 
time has cleared up the shocking mystery. The in- 
trigues which led to the murder of this unhappy woman, 
present such a scene of accumulated horrors and in- 
iquity, that for the honor of human nature, one could 
wish that the curtain had never been raised which hid 
them from our knowledge. 

On the occasion of her death, the Duke of Bucking- 
ham was sent over to France as envoy extraordinary ; he 
had been the first to observe the impression which 
Mademoiselle de Queroualle had made on the king's 
excitable fancy, and he resolved to turn it to his own 
advantage. He had quarrelled with the Duchess of 
Cleveland — had sworn hatred and vengeance against her; 
and now to raise her up a rival who should be wholly 

* France agreed to give two millions of livres (150,000/.) for the king's 
conversion to Popery ; and three millions a year for the Dutch war. 
Large sums of money were distributed to Buckingham, Arlington, 
Clifford. 




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APPENDIX. 385 

governed by himself, seemed to this Proteus of gallantry 
and harlequin of politics, a very master-stroke of art, — 
worthy of Machiavel himself. He persuaded Louis 
seriously, that the only way to bind Charles to the 
French interest, was to give him a French mistress : and 
he told Charles jestingly, that he ought to take charge 
•of his sister's favorite attendant, if only out of " decent 
tenderness" for her memory. As to Mademoiselle de 
Queroualle, a convent was all she could look to in 
France, and she was not found impracticable. Matters, 
in short, were soon arranged ; an invitation, so decor- 
ously worded as to spare the lady's blushes, was sent 
from the English Court, and she was immediately de- 
spatched to Dieppe with part of the Duke of Bucking- 
ham's suite, and his Grace's promise to join her with all 
convenient speed. But what did that most careless and 
inconsistent of human beings ? His admirable scheme 
•of policy, by which he was to build up his own fortunes 
and power, and ruin all his enemies, was but "one of 
the thousand freaks that died in thinking ;" he totally 
forgot both the lady and his promise, and leaving the dis- 
consolate nymph at Dieppe to manage as she could, 
passed over to England by way of Calais. Montagu, 
then our ambassador at Paris, hearing of the duke's egre- 
.gious blunder, immediately sent over for a yacht, and 
ordered some of his own people to convey her with all 
honor to Whitehall, where she was received by Lord 
Arlington with the utmost respect, and immediately 
appointed maid of honor to the queen. "Thus," says 
Burnet, " the Duke of Buckingham lost all the merit he 
might have pretended to, and brought over a mistress, 
whom his own strange conduct threw into the hands of 
his enemies." 

Though the lady carried it at first very demurely, the 
purpose of her visit was pretty well understood. * Dry- 

* It had been foretold apparently, for Madame de Sevigne thus writes 
to her daughter: "Ne trouverez-vous pas bon ne savoir que Keroual 
25 



386 APPENDIX. 

den, the court-poet of the time, hailed her arrival in? 
some complimentary stanzas, entitled the "Fair Stran- 
ger, ' ' not worth quoting here ; * and St. Evremond ad- 
dressed to her an epistle, which for different reasons I 
shall refrain from quoting ; it is sufficient that the ele- 
gance of the diction was worthy of his pen ; the senti- 
ments worthy of his epicurean philosophy ; and the 
morality — worthy of the occasion, f 

The next we hear of Mademoiselle de Queroualle is 
from Evelyn, who notes in his diary that he had seen 
" that famous beauty, the new French maid of honor ;" 
but adds, "in my opinion she is of a childish, simple, 
and baby face." We may judge from all the pictures of 
la Queroualle, that when young, her beauty, though ex- 
quisite, must have had the character, or rather the want 
of character, thus described by Evelyn. J Within a year 
afterwards he met her on a visit at Euston, the seat of 
Lord Arlington, where she was obviously invited for the 
gratification of Charles. The French ambassador, Col- 
bert, and a number of ladies of high rank, nobles and 
courtiers, were there at the time. Charles came over 
every other day from Newmarket, and made no secret of 
his attentions to the young beauty. 

In the year 1672 she bore the king a son (who was 
created in 1675 Duke of Richmond and Earl of March in 
England, and Duke of Lennox and Earl of Darnley in 
Scotland). In the following year Mademoiselle de Que- 
roualle was created by letters patent (August 19, 1673) 
Baroness Petersfield, Countess of Farneham and Duchess 
of Portsmouth. Yet further to exalt and blazon a shame 



dont l'etoile avait ete devinee avant qu'elle partit, l'a suivie tres-fidele- 
ment ? Le Roi d'Angleterre l'a aimee, elle s'est trouve avec uue legere 
disposition a ne le pas hair; enfin, etc." Lettre 190. 

*See Dryden's Works, Scott's edit., vol. xi., p. 163. 

f CEuvres de St. Evremond, vol. iii., p. 280. 

% Evelyn's Diary. This note is dated November, 1670, about a month 
after her arrival in England. 



APPENDIX. 387 

which sought neither disguise nor concealment, Louis 
XIV. conferred on her the Duchy of Aubigny, in the 
Province of Berri, in France, as a mark of his friendship 
for his good brother the King of England, and of his re- 
spect for the lady, whose progenitors, as the preamble sets 
forth, "had always held a considerable rank in Brittany, 
and had done good service to the throne, etc." Finding 
that she was likely to prove a staunch supporter of his 
interests in England, Louis added to the title and dig- 
nity of Duchess and Peeress of France the revenues of 
the territory of Aubigny, and a considerable pension. 

The unbounded power which this woman acquired 
over the easy disposition of her royal lover was not owing 
to any superiority of wit or intellect, nor did she attempt 
to govern him like the Duchess of Cleveland, by violence 
and caprices; though imperious and wilful, she was more 
artful and flexible ; she studied to please and observe the 
king until she had fixed him, then if he refused or de- 
layed her wishes, she had tears and sullens, and fits of 
sickness at command. Her rapacity and prodigality 
were quite equal to those of her predecessor. "This 
day," says Evelyn, "I was casually shown the Duchess 
of Portsmouth's splendid apartment at Whitehall, lux- 
uriously furnished, and with ten times the richness and 
glory of the queen's ; such massy pieces of plate, whole 
tables, stands, etc. , of incredible value ! ' ' And yet at 
this time Charles was reduced to the basest expedients 
for money : shuffling with his ministers, duping his 
friends, exasperating his people, and absolutely begging 
like a mendicant of Louis XIV. and using the interces- 
sion of the duchess to obtain from him occasional sup- 
plies. * 



* The Whig party, at one of their meetings, proposed to impeach 
some of his mistresses, upon account of the poverty in which their ex- 
travagance had involved him. On which old L,ord Mordaunt said : 
"That they ought rather to erect statues to the ladies who made their 
lover dependent on Parliament for his subsistence." 



388 APPENDIX. 

The following note in Evelyn, also relating to the ex- 
travagance of the Duchess of Portsmouth, is very char- 
acteristic. ' ' Following His Majesty this morning through 
the gallery, I went with the few who attended him into 
the Duchess of Portsmouth's dressing-room, within her 
bed-chamber, where she was in her morning loose gar- 
ment, her maids combing her, newly out of her bed, His 
Majesty and the gallants standing about her ; but that 
which engaged my curiosity was the rich and splendid 
furniture of this woman's apartment, now twice or thrice 
pulled down and rebuilt to satisfy her prodigality and 
expensive pleasures, while Her Majesty's does not exceed 
some gentlemen's wives in furniture and accommodation. 
Here I saw the new fabric of French tapestry, for design, 
tenderness of work and incomparable imitation of the 
best paintings, beyond anything I had ever beheld. 
Some pieces had Versailles, St. Germains, and other 
palaces of the French king, with huntings, figures and 
landscapes, exotic fowls, and all to the life, rarely done. 
Then for Japan cabinets, screens, pendule clocks, great 
vases of wrought plate, tables, stands, chimney furni- 
ture, sconces, branches, braseras, etc. , all of massive sil- 
ver, and out of number ; besides some of His Majesty's 
best paintings. Surfeiting of this, I dined at Sir Stephen 
Fox's, and went contented home to my poor but quiet 
villa. What contentment can there be in the riches and 
splendor of this world purchased with vice and dis- 
honor !" 

There was in truth but little of contentment within 
those splendid walls. It may be that there was not much 
repentance for the sin — nor much sense of dishonor — but 
fears and jealousies, and perplexities, and heart-aches ; 
disgraceful and malicious intrigues, public and private 
conspiracies, and all the demons that wait on pride, 
avarice, perfidy, ambition, haunted the precincts of 
this temple of luxury ; the new peeress in her gems 
and ermine, was laughed at by Nell Gwyn, hated 



APPENDIX. 389 

by the queen, despised in private, and lampooned in 
public. 

In 1675, the arrival of the Duchess of Mazarin in Eng- 
land had nearly overturned the empire of the Duchess 
of Portsmouth. That ' ' ladye errant, ' ' after many and 
notable adventures, came over with the professed inten- 
tion of captivating the king ; that very king to whom 
the short-sighted policy of her uncle had once refused 
her as a bride ! * Hortense concealed, under a languid 
air and a careless manner, as much arrogance and ambi- 
tion as a Cleveland or a Portsmouth, with more natural 
wit than either of them. But born to beauty, rank, 
power, wealth, she was the complete spoiled child of 
nature and fortune ; a sort of female Buckingham, in her 
uncontrollable passions, her extravagant whims, and in- 
stability of purpose. She had scarcely arrived in Lon- 
don, where she was received with distinction, when a 
sudden passion for the Prince de Monaco put to flight all 
her ambitious views on the heart of Charles ; for with 
her the last caprice was ever paramount. The court was 
thus spared the delectable amusement of a combat of 
daggers or bodkins between the rival duchesses ; but St. 
Evremond was in despair, and Charles in a fury. The 
vagrant heart of this royal Squire of Dames had been 
captivated in the first moment by the attractions of Maz- 
arin ; she was now dismissed from Whitehall, and he 
withdrew her pension. After a while his wrath sub- 
sided, he restored her pension at the earnest intercession 
of some of her friends at court,. but returned to L,a Ports- 
mouth, whose power over him was increased by this 
short estrangement ; she could not, however, by all her 
arts, detach him from Nell Gwyn, whose genuine wit, 
unfailing animal spirits, and careless humor, were a re- 

* It is true, that Charles in his exile had offered to marry this niece 
of Cardinal Mazarin, and it is true that the offer was refused ; it was 
then Mazarin's interest to keep well with Cromwell, and the return of 
Charles to his throne was deemed impossible. 



390 APPENDIX. 

lief from the vapors, caprices and political cabals which 
often annoyed him in the duchess's boudoir.* 

As years passed on, her power grew by habit, and with 
it her arrogance. The ladies of the court tossed their 
heads at poor Nell, the untitled mistress — but the most 
immaculate in character,' the most illustrious in rank, 
thought themselves happy in the notice and intimacy of 
the ennobled courtesan. Now and then she had to en- 
dure mortifications ; it is true, the Arlingtons, the Sun- 
derlands, the Arundels, the Cliffords, the Lauderdales — 
even the lovely young Duchess of York, combined to sur- 
round the favorite with a glory which kept her in counte- 
nance and served to gild over her shame — but the Russell s, 
the Cavendishes, the Butlers, stood aloof. She once sent 
word to the excellent and venerable Duchess of Ormonde 
that she would dine with her on such a day. The 
duchess did not decline the honor, but she sent her two 
grand-daughters, Lady Betty Stanhope and L,ady Emily 
Butler, out of the house on this occasion, and received 
the Duchess of Portsmouth alone. They sat down to din- 
ner, with only her chaplain en tiers ; and we may easily 
suppose that the Duchess of Portsmouth did not again 
invite herself to the table of the Duchess of Ormonde, f 

Carte, who gives us this characteristic trait, has also 
related an almost incredible instance of the impertinence, 



* One of Andrew Marvel's satires thus alludes to the indolent Charles 
and his insolent mistresses : 

" In loyal libels we have often told him 
How one has jilted him, the other sold him ; 
How that affects to laugh, how this to weep, 
But who can rail so long as he can sleep ! 
Was ever Prince by two at once misled, 
False, foolish, old, ill-natured and ill-bred ? ' ' 

At all times the licence of personal satire has kept pace with the 
licence of manners and morals, but the remedy is sometimes as bad as 
the disease — or rather is itself a disease. 

f Carte's Life of Ormonde. 



appendix. 391 

rapacity, and influence of the favorite. When the 
daughter of the ill-fated Henrietta of Orleans became 
Queen of Spain,* Charles ordered the famous jeweller 
Laguse to prepare an ornament of gems of the value of 
fifteen thousand pounds, as a present to his niece ; and 
Lord Ossory was appointed envoy extraordinary to 
convey it to her, with the usual compliment of congratu- 
lation ; but the duchess having in the interim cast her 
eyes on the jewel, it so pleased her fancy that she insisted 
on appropriating it. The king had every art but the art 
■of saying no, and Ossory' s journey was stopped, on the 
plea that economy was the order of the day, and that it 
was too expensive ; on the same economical principle the 
jewel was presented to the Duchess of Portsmouth. 
What became of it afterwards I do not know. 

On another occasion the Duke of York took it into 
his head to descant in her presence on the virtue and 
piety of Louis XIV. who, at the command of a new 
confessor, had sent Montespan into a convent during 
Lent, in order that he might be contrite with a better 
grace. The duke related all the circumstances and 
dwelt upon them with much eloquence and solemnity, 
to the infinite impatience and embarrassment of the 
duchess ; she was however quitte pour la frayeur. 

The queen detested her; but the little spirit which 
poor Catherine had at first exhibited, as well as her 
affection for the king, had long subsided,— the first into 
passive endurance, the latter into absolute indifference. 
When the act was passed in 1678, obliging all persons to 
take a test against Popery, and a proviso was inserted in 
favor of the queen and nine ladies about her person, she 
required all her attendants to cast lots, but named the 
Duchess of Portsmouth with herself, as excepted, and 
not to be exposed to the uncertainty of a lot. The ex- 



* She was sent into Spain at the age of fourteen, and perished, like 
her mother, in the bloom of youth, and by a similar death. 



392 APPENDIX. 

cuse made for this piece of complacency to her rival was 
her own perilous situation, which made it necessary to 
display an extreme alacrity in anticipating the wishes 
of the king. This conduct, the effect of fear only, 
excited so little gratitude, that not long afterwards we 
have an instance of the abject and heartless slavery of 
Charles, and of the unfeeling insolence of his sultana, 
which cannot be recorded without indignation. The 
duchess was lady of the bed-chamber to the queen as 
Lady Castlemaine had been before her ; not so much to 
preserve appearances, as to give her, by virtue of her 
office, a right to lodgings in Whitehall. It may easily 
be imagined that the duties of her place were dispensed 
with ; but on one occasion, contrary to her usual custom 
and the queen's wishes, she chose to attend on^ Her 
Majesty at dinner, and behaved with so much effrontery, 
that the queen, who had little command of temper, was 
thrown into extreme disorder, and at last burst into 
tears.* The duchess laughed behind her fan, and 
uttered some words of derision almost aloud : — this 
audacity excited so much disgust and indignation that 
the king interposed. Catherine's spirit was, however, 
a mere flash of excited temper, and the next time we 
hear of her she is the Duchess of Portsmouth's partner 
at Ivoo.f 

Many intrigues were carried on against the imperious 
favorite ; many attempts were made to remove her, or 
introduce a rival, or a substitute, in the heart of the in- 
dolent, inconstant Charles — but without effect. She 
had numerous enemies, and not one friend ; but she had 
so many spies and dependants around her ; she was so* 
well served through fear or interest, that she contrived 
to anticipate or defeat all the plots against her, and keep 
old Rowley chained to her footstool while he lived. % 

* Sir John Reresby's Memoirs. 

f Lady Sunderland's Letters. 

X The interest of the story of " Peveril of the Peak " turns on a plot 



APPENDIX. 393 

Nor did she reign merely through the influence of her 
beauty and her feminine arts. If this woman had con- 
fined herself to securing her personal influence in the 
heart of Charles — if she had been satisfied with amassing 
wealth and appropriating diamonds, the world had 
wanted one signal instance of mischievous, misplaced 
power in our sex. We find the Duchess of Portsmouth 
almost from her first arrival in England engaged in the 
deepest and most dangerous state intrigues ; and so com- 
pletely did she fulfil the intentions and instructions of 
Louis, in binding her lover to the French interests, that 
England, to use the strong expression of one historian, 
"was, in her time, little better than a province of 
France. ' ' As far as the government was concerned this 
was true ; but fortunately the tide of national feeling had 
set in a contrary direction, and though repressed for a 
while, it was afterwards nobly asserted. 

In the boudoir of the Duchess of Portsmouth was con- 
certed that treaty, or rather that conspiracy, between 
Charles II. and Louis XIV. a principal article of which 
was, that Charles should not call a Parliament for a 
certain number of years, and that during that time he 
should have money from the court of France to enable 
him to govern independently, and carry his measures 
without the consent of his people. The amount of this 
pension caused much dispute. The plea used by Charles 
to persuade Louis to come in to his terms was, " that it 
would render England for ever dependant on him, and 
put it out of the power of the English to oppose him. ' ' 

of this kind, fictitious of course, but resembling in its outline the story 
of Miss Lawson. The king obtained the nickname of Old Rowley, 
from that of an ugly old horse in the royal stud, which was celebrated 
for the number and beauty of its offspring. He was ignorant of this 
satirical cognomen, till one day happening to visit one of the maids of 
honor, he found her singing a most libellous soug on " Old Rowley the 
King." After listening a few minutes at the door, he tapped gently ; 
"Who's there?" said Miss Lawson from within ; "Old Rowley him- 
self, madam," replied the king, opening the door. 



394 APPENDIX. 

These were the king's own words — may they stick like 
plague-spots to his memory ! The Duchess of Ports- 
mouth promised for her lover, that if Louis would give 
four million of livres, he should enter into all the en- 
gagements the King of France could desire. The terms 
were at last arranged between Bouillon the French 
envoy, and Lord Sunderland. 

During this secret negotiation, French money was 
lavished on all sides a pleines mains : not only the min- 
isters, courtiers, and their dependants, but some of the 
women of the highest rank in the Court accepted pres- 
ents and gratifications from France, on conditions pretty 
well understood ; and ' ' not to be corrupted, was the 
shame."* Many of these transactions were well known 
to the king, who treated them with profligate indiffer- 
ence and even raillery. While Charles and his confidants 
were bribed into compliance with the wishes of Louis, 
the French ambassador and the Duchess of Portsmouth 
were intriguing with the popular or Whig party, in 
order to embarrass the government, and prevent the 
king from becoming too independent : and Charles was 

*The French Minister thus writes to his master — "Lady Arlington 
having offered in her husband's presence to accept of the present in- 
tended for her husband, he reproached her, but very obligingly." 
About a year afterwards, he says : — "My Lord Arlington made me a 
visit on purpose to let me know how much he is penetrated with the 
marks of esteem and distinction which Your Majesty has given by the 
magnificent present made to Lady Arlington. ' ' Again, ' ' Lady Shrews- 
bury, on receiving her French pension, said, She would make Buck- 
ingham comply with the king in all things." Again, "If Your Maj- 
esty thinks I ought again to press Lord Hollis to except the box of 
diamonds, I may, by means of Lady Hollis, make him accept of it. I 
don't presume she will be so difficult as he has been." (Lord Hollis 
died before the box could be again offered to him, and it was given to 
Lord St. Albans.) Montagu was promised 100,000 livres for contriving 
the disgrace and fall of Lord Danby, (but received only half the sum ;) 
"Lord Sunderland and the Duchess of Portsmouth hinted that they 
expected gratifications from France." (They received 10,000 and 
5000 pistoles with a very good grace.) See the original despatches 
quoted in Dalrymple's Appendix. 



APPENDIX. 395 

duping, or trying to dupe, all parties in turn. In the 
midst of this scene of perfidy and meanness, and moral 
and political abasement, — while the traitor nobles, and 
their more traitorous king, were licking the dust like 
reptiles round the footstool of a French courtesan, was 
she on whom so much of the odium has been thrown, 
the most culpable or the most contemptible figure in the 
vile group ? Like Circe, who retained her human and 
feminine attributes in the midst of the herd of wretches 
around her, transformed and degraded by the taste of 
her enchanted cup, she had still some womanly feelings 
left — and for her, Justice might find some excuse, — for 
the others none. She was introduced to the French 
Court just in time to witness the elevation and triumph 
of Madame de Montespan ; to see her the object of envy 
to the women, and of obsequious homage to the men ; to 
see her carriage surrounded by a troop of horse, and her 
levee crowded by obsequious nobles ; — Was it to be ex- 
pected that she alone was to look beyond this illusion, 
and turn from a temptation which she had learned to 
regard as an object of ambition ? She was a foreigner ; 
treachery to England was truth and good service to her 
own country ; perfidy on one side was patriotism on the 
other, — at least it has been accounted so in other hero- 
ines ; only this French Judith was satisfied with turning 
the head of her lover, and had no wish to cut it off. 
Farther — she was a woman, with the feelings and affec- 
tions of a woman. She was attached to Charles, was 
true to him — to him who believed her the only friend he 
had in the world, yet did not hesitate to dupe her when- 
ever he wished through her to dupe others. She doated 
on her son, and by these two feelings, superior even to 
her fears and her avarice, she was frequently governed 
by the intriguing ministers around her. For instance, 
when the Bill to exclude the Duke of York from the 
throne was agitated with such factious clamor, the nation 
beheld the strange spectacle of the French mistress, 



396 APPENDIX. 

leagued with the Whig and Protestant faction, and in- 
triguing with the popular leaders of the House of Com- 
mons against the Court ; because that Machiavel, 
Shaftesbury, had represented to her, that if the usual 
law of succession was once set aside, her son the Duke 
of Richmond would become of more importance, and 
even have some chance of succeeding to the throne : and 
such was her ignorance or her imbecility, that she fell 
at once into the snare. They also worked on her fears 
by threatening to vote her a public grievance. It is 
said that on this occasion she threw herself at the 
feet of the king and shed a flood of tears, beseeching 
him not to sacrifice her and himself to his affection 
for his brother : but this time she kneeled and wept in 
vain. 

It is curious, that during that grotesque and sanguin- 
ary farce, the Popish plot, which threatened even the 
person of the queen, the Duchess of Portsmouth not only 
escaped its all-devouring snares, but enjoyed a kind of 
popularity, so that when a member of the House of Com- 
mons rose up to move an address, ' ' That she should 
be sent out of the kingdom," the purport of his speech 
was no sooner guessed than it was drowned in a tumult 
of dissentient voices. One part of this pretended plot 
being the murder of the king, she had an excuse 
for being on the opposite side. It is even said that at 
the trial of poor old Lord Stafford she was in the court 
dealing out smiles and bon-bons to the witnesses against 
him. 

It is said in the life of Lord Russell, that the old Earl 
of Bedford offered the Duchess of Portsmouth one hun- 
dred thousand pounds to procure the pardon of his son, 
and that she refused it. As she was never known to re- 
sist a bribe, it is more probable that she did make the 
attempt and failed. In this instance, as in some others, 
the Duke of York's influence outweighed hers. 

In the year 1681 her son, the Duke of Richmond, then 



APPENDIX. 397 

about nine years old, was installed a Knight of the 
Garter. At this period, and previously, the Knights of 
the Garter wore the blue ribbon round the neck with 
the George appendant on the breast ; but the duke's 
mother having some time after his installation introduced 
him to the king with his ribbon over his left shoulder, 
and the George appendant on the right side, His Majesty 
was so much pleased with the alteration, that he com- 
manded it in future to be adopted. Thus the Duchess 
of Portsmouth has some claim to be considered as joint 
patroness of the most noble order of the Garter with the 
Countess of Salisbury of chivalrous memory, whose face 
could not' have been more fair, and whose fame, by all 
accounts, was not much fairer. 

About the same time another secret treaty with France 
was arranged in the boudoir of Madame la Duchesse. 
The principal article of this treaty was, that Charles 
should never more call a parliament, and should receive 
on that condition two millions of livres for one year, and 
a million and a half for two years more. Lord Hyde, 
Lord St. Albans, and the Duchess of Portsmouth were 
alone privy to this infamous bargain, which was man- 
aged verbally, but the proofs of which remain in Baril- 
lon's despatches. It is well known that after this treaty, 
or rather treason, had been consummated, Charles dis- 
solved his parliament and never assembled another. It 
was a little later, about 1682, that Louis, being resolved 
to seize on Luxembourg, the key to the Netherlands and 
Germany, prevailed on Charles, through the influence 
and caresses of the Duchess of Portsmouth, to look on 
quietly while this piece of arbitrary injustice was perpe- 
trated against the faith of treaties and against the interest 
of England. Charles received ^300,000 for his passive 
treachery. The amount of the gratification which re- 
warded the duchess is not ascertained; but she ever after- 
wards piqued herself on this affair of Luxembourg, and 
boasted of it as the last and best piece of service she had 



398 APPENDIX. 

rendered the court of France. * In trie midst of these 
vile state intrigues, the interior of Whitehall is described 
by contemporaries as a scene ' ' of inexpressible luxury 
and profaneness, gaming and all dissoluteness, ' ' but the 
under current was bitterness, terror and gloom. Charles, 
who had been so remarkable for his easy gaiety, had 
latterly sunk into a kind of melancholy apathy ; the 
duchess became alarmed by his illness and her own un- 
popularity. She changed her conduct after the dissolu- 
tion of the last parliament, turned against the popular 
party, connected her interests with those of the Duke of 
York, and brought Lord Sunderland again into the ad- 
ministration ; in fact, Sunderland, whose insinuating 
arts few could withstand, found means to work on her 
feelings and her fears. He began by proving to her that 
her son could never hope to succeed to the crown, but 
that, through his (Lord Sunderland's) interest and that 
of the Duke of York, she might gain an immense heredi- 
tary settlement for him. The duke was not wanting in 
promises on his part, so that on one occasion, in 1684, 
when the duchess was seized with a sudden indisposition 
(the consequence of that habitual gonrma7idise in which 
she indulged), she called the king to her and made him 
swear, in case of her death, to stand by his brother. On 
her recovery, the Duke of York sent to thank her for a 
proof of interest, which appeared at least sincere ; yet he 
contrived to delay, and at length to evade, the promised 
settlement on her son. Meantime the king's spirits de- 
clined ; nothing, as it was commonly said, went near his, 
heart, for in truth he had no heart ; but the inextricable 
web of difficulties in which his duplicity and extrava- 
gance had involved him began to prey on his mind. He 
had been false to all, he was mistrusted by all; insignifi- 
cant abroad, contemptible at home : while Louis XIV., 



* Burnet, vol. ii., p. 181. Dalrymple, vol. i., Appendix to Book I. 
Evelyn, vol. i., p. 537. 



APPENDIX. 399 

sick of his vacillating and tired of his complaints and his 
mean importunities, not only withheld his pension and 
intrigued with his subjects against him, but actually 
threatened to publish through Europe the articles of 
their secret treaties, which would not only have rendered 
him detestable in the eyes of all men, but might have 
proved fatal to his crown and life ; * his father had lost 
his head for much less cause. Charles was struck at 
once with terror and rage to be thus over-reached ; his 
gaiety forsook him, and with it his good-breeding and 
good nature, which were mere manner and temperament. 
To his natural laziness was added extreme depression of 
spirits, and a sudden and unusual fit of jealousy increased 
his ill-humor. In 1684, the Grand-Prieur de Vendome,f 
brother to the Duke of Vendome, came over from France 
on some secret mission, and had particular orders to in- 
gratiate himself with the Duchess of Portsmouth. This 
Grand-Prieur appears to have possessed in himself a rare 
union of qualifications ; he was prelate, statesman, sol- 
dier, courtier, and man of gallantry; very handsome, and 
very slovenly. He began by losing his money to the 
duchess, and then, under pretence of state affairs, was so 
frequently closeted with her, that the king, roused from 
his usual indolence and indifference, ordered the Grand- 
Prieur to quit England. Yet his behavior to the duchess 
at this very time displayed an increase of fondness and 
confidence, and whether there were any real grounds for 
this suspicion remains doubtful. 

Such was at this period the alteration in Charles's 
spirits and deportment, that the Duchess of Portsmouth 
began to tremble for him and for herself. When she 
was about to make a journey to Bath, whither Sir 

* Barillon, the French envoy, confesses that he had a discretionary 
power to threaten Charles with this discovery, but was to keep it in 
reserve as a stroke of thunder. 

f He was the grandson of Henri Quatre, consequently cousin to the 
king. He came over first in 1680. 



400 APPENDIX. 

Charles Scarborough (the court physician) had ordered 
her, Lord Sunderland stopped her departure, by asking 
her if she could be such a fool as to let the king feel he 
could do without her? And taking advantage of her 
fondness for her lover,* his fertile brain and restless 
spirit, which seem to have "toiled in frame of vil- 
lainies," conceived a new plot; he persuaded the duchess 
that the only means of restoring the king to health and 
spirits was to prevail on him to change his measures en- 
tirely, reconcile himself to the parliament and people, 
banish the Duke of York, and recall Monmouth, f The 
duchess listened ; always impotent in mind, facile as she 
was headstrong, and without any fixed principle of con- 
duct, except that of securing the king's affections and 
her own power over him, she readily lent herself to 
Sunderland's projects ; but in the very commence- 
ment of this new intrigue Charles was seized with 
apoplexy. 

It must be allowed that the deportment of the Duchess 
of Portsmouth, in his last moments, considering her 
situation and her tenets of belief, did her some honor. 
She had often been compared to Alice Pierce in the 
lampoons of the days, but her conduct was very different. 
It was made a subject of reproach to her, that she was 
found seated by the king's pillow and supporting his 
head, where the queen ought to have been (but where 
the queen was not)) and it was considered "a piece of 
indecency" that she had desired Bishop Kenn to take 
the Duke of Richmond to his father to receive his last 
blessing ; % but her solicitude on these points does not 



* The expressions used by Dalrymple. 

t Lord Sunderland's aim was to ingratiate himself with the Prince 
of Orange, whose party was becoming every day stronger in England. 

% The good bishop was much blamed for his compliance. — Vide 
Burnet. This was the same bishop who, when Charles II. lodged at 
his house at Winchester, refused to admit Nell Gwyn into it. The 
king put himself into a passion ; but Nell defended the bishop, ob- 



APPENDIX. 401 

surely deserve so hard a construction. On the second 
day of the king's seizure, Barillon writes, that he found 
the duchess in her apartment overwhelmed with afflic- 
tion, but that instead of speaking of her own grief or her 
own affairs, she appeared extremely anxious for the state 
of the king's soul. " Nobody," said she, " tells him of 
his condition, or speaks to him of God. I cannot with 
decency enter the room ; the Duke of .York thinks only 
of his own affairs. Go to him, I conjure you, and warn 
him to think of what can be done to save the king's 
soul ; lose no time, for, if it be deferred ever so little, it 
will be too late ! ' ' 

She had all along been in the secret of Charles's real 
sentiments with regard to religion, and a priest being 
brought, he died in the profession of the Catholic faith. 
He frequently recommended the Duchess of Portsmouth 
and her son to his successor, "In terms," says Burnet, 
" as melting as he could fetch out ; " and after his death 
the first visit of condolence which James the Second paid 
was to the Duchess of Portsmouth ; the second to the 
Queen Dowager, whose grief, in truth, was the more 
apocryphal of the two. 

Soon after the death of Charles the Second the Duchess 
of Portsmouth retired to France, carrying with her a 
large sum in money and jewels ; and from this time, 
though her life was prolonged beyond the usual term of 
humanity, very few particulars are known concerning 
her. She lived at first with considerable splendor, but 
lost immense sums at play ; and her pension from Eng- 
land being stopped, it appears that she was reduced to 
great difficulties. She came over to England in 1699, 
and found her son, the Duke of Richmond, married to 
Lady Anne Brudenell, widow of Lord Bellasys, and the 
father of three children. She returned to Paris, but 



served that lie only did his duty, and retired voluntarily to another 
lodging. 

26 



402 



APPENDIX. 



came over again in 1715 and was presented to the Prin- 
cess of Wales, afterwards Queen Caroline.* Her object, 
it is said, was to obtain a pension from the English gov- 
ernment : if she had the assurance to ask it, apparently 
the government had not the assurance to grant it. In 
1 7 18 she was a poor pensioner on the French court, and 
was living on an allowance of eight hundred pounds a 
year. She died at Paris in 1734, aged 87. 

* At the first drawing-room held by George I., the Duchess of 
Portsmouth, the Countess of Dorchester, ci-devant mistress of James 
II. ; and the Countess of Orkney, mistress of William III., found 
themselves standing together in the royal presence. "Good Lord ! " 
exclaimed Lady Dorchester, whose impudence equalled her wit, "who 

would have thought that we three should have met here ! " 

They had all been raised to the peerage on the same terms. 




ANN HYDE, DUCHESS OF YORK. 



INDEX OF NAMES. 



Anne of Austria, 88 
Arlington, Earl of, 164, 165 
Arlington, Countess of, 166 
Armine, Susan. See Bellasys. 
Arran, Earl of, 118, 187, 198, 201 
Arscot, Duke d', 94 

Bagot, Miss, 248, 252, 253 

Bardou, Miss, 239, 245 

Barker, Mrs. , 263 

Barry, Mrs., 279 

Batteville, Baron de, 57 

Bellasys, Lady, 372, 373, 374, 375, 376, 377, 378, 

379 
Bellenden, Miss, 239, 245 
Blague, Miss, 144, 146, 149, 151, 155, 248 
Boynton, Miss, 248, 280, 317, 365 
Brice, Don Gregorio, 175 
Brinon, 45, 46, 47, 49 
Brisacier, 144, 155, 248 
Brissac, Duke de, 228, 229, 230 
Bristol, Earl of, 195 
Brooks, Misses, 122, 196, 197 
Brounker, 294, 295, 296, 297 
Buckingham, Duchess of, 338, 339 
Buckingham, Duke of, 116, 161, 162, 336, 338 
Bussy, 33, 196 

Cameran, Count, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56 
Carlingford, Lord, 346, 348 

(403) 



404 INDEX OF NAMES. 

Carnegy. See Southesk 

Castlemaine, Countess of, 121, 136, 166, 169, 173^ 
180, 183, 196, 201, 282, 285, 333, 335, 341, 345,, 

35o, 352, 355> 357 
Charles II. , no, in, 112, 113 
Chesterfield, Countess of, 122, 167, 181, 183, 184,, 

195, 198, 199, 203, 206, 208, 215, 217, 219, 221, 

227, 312 
Chesterfield, Earl of, 182, 184, 198, 199, 203, 208,. 

210, 213, 219, 224, 226 
Chifrmch, 357 

Churchill, Miss, 312, 314, 319, 320 
Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, 350, 351 
Clarendon, Earl of, 114, 115 
Cleveland. See Castlemaine 
Comminge, Mons. de, 171 
Conde, Prince de, 86, 87, 88, 90, 91, 95, 96, 102, 

io 5> *75, x 7 6 > !77 
Cornwallis, Lord, 237 

Crofts, 202, 348 

Cromwell, Oliver, 109 

Davis, Mrs., 354, 355 

Denham, Sir John, 196, 218 

Denham, Lady, 197, 207, 215, 218 

Dorset, Duke of, 213, 215, 351 

Dongon, 250 

Dowager Queen. See Henrietta 

Duncan, 151 

Etheredge, Sir George, 213, 215 

Falmouth, Earl of, 117, 160, 170, 171, 186, 189, 233,. 

253 
Feraulas, 324 
Feversham, Earl of, 250 
Fielding, Miss, 248 



INDEX OF NAMES. 405 

Fiesque, Countess, 130 
Flamarens, 231, 232, 239 
Fox, Sir Stephen, 238 
Francisco, 198 

Gaboury, 101 

Garde, Miss de la, 239, 241, 245 

Gibbs, Miss, 365 

Gloucester, Duke of, 111 

Grammont, Marechal de, 175, 329 

Guise, Duke of, 152, 172 

Gwyn, Nell, 284, 351, 352, 353, 354 

Hall, Jacob, 136, 284 

Hamilton, Anthony. See Biographical Sketch I. 
Hamilton, George, 166, 182, 183, 184, 198, 200, 201, 
202, 203, 205, 206, 208, 209, 219, 227, 300, 301, 

3°2, 342, 343> 344, 346, 365 
Hamilton, James, 118, 342 
Hamilton, Miss, 140, 141, 143, 145, 147, 148, 149, 

150, 151, 153, 154, x 56, 157, i5 8 » J 59> 160, 161, 
180, 181, 217, 218, 232, 239, 280, 297, 300, 301, 

303> 3°4> 3° 8 , 3 IO > 321, 323> 332, 34i, 3 6 5 
Henrietta Maria, Queen Dowager, 119, 125, 177 
Hobart, Miss, 248, 251, 252, 253, 259, 260, 261, 267, 

268, 269, 270, 271, 272, 273, 313, 314, 315 
Hopital, Mademoiselle de 1', 331 
Howard, Henry, 159 
Howard, Thomas, 137 
Humieres, Marechal de, 92, 94 
Hughes, Mrs., 306, 307 
Hyde, Anne, Duchess of York, 114, 124, 173, 185, 

189, 311 
Hyde, Mrs., 135 

Jennings, Miss, 253, 256, 281, 286, 291, 365 
Jermyn, 120, 137, 186, 188, 287, 364 



406 INDEX OF NAMES. 

Jones, Earl of Ranelagh, 131 

Katherine, Queen Infanta of Portugal, 112, 122, 124 

168, 338, 340 
Killegrew, 187, 242, 244, 276, 277, 278, 335, 337 
Kirk, Miss. See Warmestre. 

La Motte, 94 

Lawson, Mrs., 369, 370, 371 

Lely, Sir Peter, 217 

Leopold, Archduke, 90 

Levingston, Miss, 248 

L'Orme, Madame de, 228 

Louis XIII. , 35 

Louis XIV., 105 

Lussan, Mons. de, 95, 96 

Lyttelton, Sir Charles, 255, 265, 365 

Madame Royale, 60 

Marshall, Mrs., 263 

Matta, 61, 78, 84 

Mazarin, Cardinal, 88, 103 

Mazarin, Peter, 103 

Melo, Francisco de, 123 

Meneville, Madame, 107 

Middlesex. See Dorset 

Middleton, 122, 132, 138, 139, 141, 143, 158, 181 

Monmouth, Duke of, 332, 334 

Monmouth, Duchess of, 334 

Montagu, Edward, 318 

Montagu, Ralph, 138, 318 

Montmorency, 96 

Motte, Houdancourt, Mademoiselle de, 107 

Muskerry, Lord, 145, 154, 304, 308 

Muskerry, Lady, 143, 145, 149,. 308, 309, 310 

Newcastle, Duchess of, 154 



INDEX OF NAMES. 407 

Oloune, Mademoiselle, 130 

Orange, Princess of, 112, 121 

Orleans, Madame, Duchess of, 330 

Ormond, Duke of, 115, 236 

Ossory, Earl of, 118 

Oxford, Earl of, 263, 264 * 

Panetra, Donna, 123 

Portsmouth, Duchess of, 380, 381, 382, 383, 384, 385, 
386, 387, 388, 389, 390, 391, 392, 393, 394, 395, 

396, 397. 39 8 > 399> 400, 401, 402 
Poussatin, 174, 177, 178 
Pralin, Du Plessis, 36, 10 1 
Price, Miss, 150, 151, 155, 248, 249, 250, 251, 267, 

274, 278, 283, 286, 290, 292, 293, 295, 296 
Progers, Edward, 247 

Queroualle, Louise de. See Portsmouth. 

Rawlings, Giles, 138 

Richelieu, Cardinal, 35 

Richmond, Duke of, 240, 241, 357, 358, 359, 360, 

365 
Richmond, Duchess of. See Stewart 
Robarts, Lady, 193, 194, 195, 211 
Robarts, Lord, 193, 194 
Rochester, Earl of, 213, 214, 249, 253, 259, 265, 275, 

289, 365 
Rupert, Prince, 147, 305, 306 
Russell, John, 157, 179, 180 
Russell, William, 157 

St. Albans, Earl of, 116, 120 

St. Chaumont, Mine, de, 321, 330 

St. Evremond, 33, 127, 129, 131, 158, 161, 211, 366 

St. Germain, Madame de, 61, 64, 70, 71, 74 

Saucourt, 331 



408 INDEX OF NAMES. 

Sedley, Sir Charles, 213, 215 

Senantes, Madame de, 62, 71 

Senantes, Marquis of, jt, 

Shrewsbury, Couutess of, 122, 136, 137, 138, 216, 

234, 338 
Silvius, Sir Gabriel, 245 
Southesk, Lady, 190, 233 

Stewart, Miss, 133, 161, 202, 258, 335, 357, 365 
Suse, Countess de la, 231 
Sydney, Robert, 119, 315 
Sylva, Don Pedro, 123 

Taaffe, Lord, 240, 243, 244 

Talbot, Duke of Tyrconnel, 187, 188, 192, 233, 234, 

235) 280, 365 
Talbot, Peter, 235 
Talbot, Thomas, 235 
Tambonneau, 231, 232, 233 
Tanes, Count de, 60 
Taurauvedez, 123 

Temple, Miss, 235, 255, 259, 267, 365 
Termes, 143, 148, 152, 324 
Thanet, Lord, 148 
Thomas, Prince, 36 
Toulongeon, 159, 161, 367 
Turenne, Marechal de, 56, 91, 93 

Vendome, Csesar de, 43 
Villeroy, 101 

Warmestre, Miss, 132, 139, 239, 244 
Wells, Miss, 246, 247, 248, 256 

Wetenhall, Mrs., 297, 298, 299, 300, 301, 302, 308, 
3 IO > 342 

Yarborough, Sir Thomas, 144, 249 
York, James, Duke of, 92, 113, 156, 185, 190, 191, 
194, 198, 217, 256, 310 



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